BurgerFi, a new place that opened recently next door. There is only one BurgerFi outlet in Colorado presently, apparently five more are in planning.
Two single cheeseburgers, one extra crispy fries, cost: $12.86
Sourdough bread
Fierce Denver sourdough starter raised on whole wheat but applied to all white flour.
That is the bread-equivalent of an alligator chomping through marshmallows. The wet sponge was prepared earlier and set inside the refrigerator to ferment. I lost interest in bread altogether right then and the sponge languished for over a week. That would make the loaves overly uncomfortably sour X3 or X4. The flour in the sponge was exhausted. The whole pile of dough went limp and cannot be restrengthened with incremental increase in flour, but it can be used to start a whole new batch as if from the beginning. So, this is half overly fermented over sour sponge mixed with brand new sponge. Even then the dough was still limp. I did not expect so much oven rise that the stretchy skin explodes open and the whole cloche fill up inside the hot oven nearly lifting its own lid. I haven't tasted it yet.
This is half the overly fermented sponge. The other half is frozen. That will get the same treatment, but slashed when baked to prevent this unsightly splitting.
Eggs Benedict with cheese sauce
That is a homemade English muffin, one single English muffin pan fried just for this.
Hollandaise sauce uses another egg, and I didn't want three eggs, and a lot more butter and I do not have a lemon around here right now although I do have limes, for those reasons a cheese sauce is prepared instead.
Popcorn
Popped in a pot on medium heat covered with a screen, not with a heavy lid so the steam escapes without moistening the popped kernels.
Hot evacuated pot used to melt generous butter, chipotle powder and salt, then drizzled over popped corn while tossing.
Grated Parmigiano sprinkled over top without tossing, its weight carries it down to the end.
Madeleines
This is a test.
Genoise batter. The ingredients are simple. The process precise.
3 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
2 Tablespoon brown sugar
Whip for five minutes until thick and pale.
Meanwhile melt (browning is best)
1/2 cup butter, (4 oz., 1 stick)
Dry ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel or any flavoring you like.
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel or any flavoring you like.
Dry ingredients are folded into the whipped egg and sugar in three increments.
Warm butter is whipped with a portion of batter then the tempered butter is poured along the inside of the bowl and folded in. (rather than poured over top)
Chill batter one hour. (Best for baking if the butter in the batter is cold)
Prepare Madeleine pans with butter/flour and chill the pan. (Again, to control the butter)
Baked 375℉ for 9 minutes.
Conclusion: Win. Increase the amount of batter in each Madeleine pan depression. One rounded teaspoon was used, so, 1 + 1/2 teaspoon is the correct amount.
The cookies are excellent but only for now. The combination of delicate crispy shell and light cake interior is one of those evanescent things that simply does not last. They will be good tomorrow but not be nearly so good as right now.
That is why tomorrow the ladies get a brand new fresh batch of Madeleines straight out of the oven. This is for them in the morning. The batter can keep but the cookies cannot.
Corn banana bread with apple
Ick. This is my brother's idea to put bananas in the refrigerator and allow them to turn black to extend their usefulness. You can put them in the freezer too, thaw them out, and squeeze them out of their skins like toothpaste. When frozen the cells are damaged so that the banana liquifies inside the skin.
Boy, is this ever moist.
Cheese crackers, red chili con carne
Raw ↑
Baked ↓
The cheese crackers are something. They started out as Saltine soda crackers but with buttery goodness added, and then the butter was changed to cheese.
1 Cup white all purpose flour
1/2 cup cheese, any mixed cheese.
1Tablespoon buttermilk powder (my new favorite ingredient)
1/8 teaspoon baking soda to react with buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking powder to lift the heavy cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
Process to desired pulverization.
1/4 -- 1/2 cup water through feeding tube until mixture turns into a ball that rolls around the processor.
375℉ for 10 minutes
Makes two full sheets (in reality 1/2 size professional baking pans, but they are large), 2 dozen squares if scored the way shown. The scraps can be reprocessed with additional water for an additional dozen, nearly 72 cheese crackers.
The chile con carne is nothing. I had considerable minced beef and lamb hamburger meat prepared and chilled that needed to be used before it went off. An onion is diced, a few garlic cloves smashed and diced. Cumin and cilantro added, with s/p and specific chile powders. Additional dry chile flakes crumbled by hand because the powder is insufficiently hot, oregano.
Two tins of beans with their packing liquid are added to that.
One tin of San Marzano tomatoes added to that, whole, not diced or anything. Heated. That's it. No cheese because the crackers are cheesed up.