Tales of Special Agent Horne

[st_aurafina]

I'm writing my casestory big bang, which is a Twin Peaks/X-Files crossover. It's going slowly - 200 words a night, most nights - but I'm actually really enjoying the process. Eating secret midnight cupcakes might have something to do with this.

I'm writing an adult Audrey Horne, who is now an agent. I think she'd have hair like this in my icon. Short and sleek. (And sexy.)

Tiny Linkspam

- trouble is collecting data on your favorite fictional doctors here. It's a great list, and I had a lot of fun reading through it. (And I just realised I forgot Martha Jones. *hurries off to amend list*)

- from thefourthvine, melannen is is auctioning her 1000 cranes, a ten year project, for help_japan. I can't think of any cause better.

- beanpot has a love meme, the kind where you make a list of the things you love - people, things, fannish or otherwise. It's an oasis of happy. (Which means there's a lot of unhappy around right now.)

- junetide (the exchange for original fic) has sign-ups open. Looking at some of the sample prompts that pippin threw together in comments, I really want to sign up for this. I think it will be an interesting challenge to world build, character build and answer a prompt in 1000 words.

Bakepocalypse

Salted butter chocolate chip cookies - this is a favourite recipe of mine. I think it was the first time that I got the hang of making cookies - refrigerating the dough, then cooking them till they're just set, this seems to make them more chewy than crispy. Toasting the nuts first. Oh, they're so good.





Black Bottom cupcakes - I did not love these. I'm not sure why, but the base cupcake was quite dry, and the cheesecake didn't sink into them like they should. They're tasty enough - hence my midnight snacking on them - but I think I'd like the cake layer to be a bit more dense. Gooier, maybe. (Anyone care to share a good cupcake recipe? Or tips? I don't have much luck with them. Maybe I over cook?)

Homemade Bounty bars - apologies for linking to a miserable inaccessible page. I can understand the reason for putting her recipe inside a watermarked jpg, but it doesn't make it any easier to read. I had to load the image in Photoshop to get it big enough to read. But it was the only Bounty recipe that didn't involve coconut cream or dairy cream, which would have required a trip to the supermarket. Credit where credit is due - they are very tasty. It's a good recipe and it's easy to make. I used unsweetened coconut, because that's what I had (I don't think I've ever seen sweetened shredded coconut on our supermarket shelves, actually) and because our Bounty bars are not actually that sweet. I rolled them into balls and dipped them in melted chocolate, and I could have eaten hundreds of them. It's a good thing the recipe only made twelve.

Easy caramel fudge - made to use up the rest of the condensed milk from the above recipe. I like this fudge better than the melt-and-set kind of fudge that I made earlier. The texture is less fleshy, and the caramelisation makes it really tasty. I didn't put nuts in this batch, but still tasty. Oh, and senmut? I cut it into half-inch squares. Very handy size!

Also more pretzels (definitely like the soda bath compared to plain boiling water) and more zucchini fritters. They are omg so tasty.

What's coming up in Bakepocalypse 2011?
Sesame candy - these look tasty, and I love Sesame Snaps. I'm a bit wary of the "pick up the hot candy and press it into the molds" thing, though. Maybe I'll forgo the funky shapes and the third degree burns.

Meyer lemon poundcake cupcakes - I am hoping that regular lemons are a good substitute for Meyer lemons. I have a new mini-loaf pan, I want to make mini poundcakes.

And more zucchini fritters, because my customer who is also a gardening guru keeps leaving large and hilarious vegetables on my desk. There is nothing funnier than a zucchini as big as a baby, I'm telling you.

Oh, and cookies that will look good when I use my cookie stamp on it. Cookie stamp! I want to stamp everything with my cookie stamp.

Last thing from the kitchen department - I also bought a cast iron frying pan, mostly because when lilacsigil gets back from hospital and can finally eat eggs again, I want to make a fritatta of the kind that you pop in the oven to set. I have to season the pan, apparently. Which I can do, fine. But the leaflet also said something that is disturbing to me: don't use detergent on your cast iron pan, as it will remove the patina.

I CAN'T NOT WASH MY PAN IN SOAP, GUYS.

I JUST CAN'T.

Maybe I should return it to the shop. I'll tell them I'm a cooking philistine, and I'm not up to the complexities of cooking in cast iron.

No soap. I just can't.

Comments

[crossedwires]

I've taken dish soap to a cast iron pan before. Erm, possibly I didn't know I wasn't supposed to, but my parents didn't say anything about it, so presumably it was all right!

Mmm, bakepocalypse!

[st_aurafina]

Well, at least I know the pan won't explode or turn green or anything. I think I'll try using soap then seasoning it. Because - soap! You need it in your kitchen.

*passes you the cookie plate*

[havocthecat]

The only thing you really need to do if you wash it with soap is to re-season it. Soap undoes the seasoning and makes it no long a non-stick pan.

[st_aurafina]

But until I have this magical non-stick coating, what do I do when the food cakes on? I understand the building up of patina to form a non-stick coating, but that must mean there's a time when there's no non-stick coating?

Maybe that's why I have to cook bacon a lot in it at first? Bacon isn't terrifically sticky...

[havocthecat]

When food sticks on, I do one of two things:
1. I stick my cast iron skillet on the stove going full blast to burn everything really, really black and make it easy to clean out; or
2. I fill it partway up with hot water and then scrub at it without soap until it flakes off.

Rumor has it you can also stick it face-down in the oven on 450 degrees (fahrenheit) for a couple of hours. Also, I have a friend who recommends building a bonfire and tossing the cast iron skillet in the bonfire for a few hours to get off the burned-on crud. Which actually will work, but the person she was reccing that to lived in the country; I somehow suspect my suburban house isn't the right place for it.

But bacon will help season it! What seasoning is, essentially, is when the oils and fats from what you're cooking "fill in" the tiny hollows and pits that you can't see, but exist in the cast iron skillet. For some reason, filling those in helps it immeasurably. Cooking bacon in it will help out a lot, because it will help season it. (And in a tasty way. Hopefully that's a bonus!)

I totally understand your leeriness. When I first got my cast iron skillet, I had the same reaction and the same hesitations, and it took me a while to get into the groove of using it. My best advice is to take it at a pace you're comfortable with. Which it sounds like you know already, really. :)

[nixwilliams]

eh, it's ok to use soap but DON'T SCRUB. and then dress it with oil afterwards. i am breaking in a new wok and doing it properly... WITHOUT SOAP AND EVERYTHING!

[st_aurafina]

But what if there's crud all caked on and stuff? Can I scrub it and NOT use soap, for example? Or I don't know, soak it overnight?

Wok! New wok! How exciting.

[nixwilliams]

i know with the wok if you season it properly it becomes non-stick. not sure about cast iron - usually i just scrape it with a plastic eggflip, or soak it a bit (not overnight, just half an hour or so). it's really kind of low maintenance, though. you're not going to WRECK it if you use soap, it's just better for it if you don't! and always rub it with oil afterwards.

[senmut]

Wash with soap, no scrubbing, then season. After? Always wipe it out, wash in hot water...and here's the trick to no soap...you dry it on the burner, evaporating away the water and such. Believe me, in all my years of eating from cast iron, I've never been sickened from anything.
If you do ever wash with soap, due to mess foods, or whatever, don't scrub. Then season it again.
Also, sounds like you are a busy thing!

[nixwilliams]

yes, i should have said - HOT water!

[st_aurafina]

I knew my flist would know what to do! Okay, so, hot water, scrub a bit but not soap.Dry on the hot plate. Soap only if it's really messy, and then season again.

I'm feeling much more confident, and I'm going to start the seasoning process this weekend. Apparently this takes a while if you're starting from new - the leaflet suggested that I cook bacon the first few times. Bacon, yay!

Thank you so much. *hugs you*

I am busy! (I am keeping busy, but it's helping.)

[whatistigerbalm]

This post has made me happy! I want a cookie stamp too.

Twin Peaks/X-Files crossover

WANT WANT WANT god do I ever WANT

[st_aurafina]

The cookie stamp is very cool - the silicon part that touches the food is removable so you can wash it.

WANT WANT WANT god do I ever WANT

Yay, nice that someone apart from me and my beta thinks this is a cool idea! *glees out*

[havocthecat]

WANT WANT WANT god do I ever WANT

Seconded! Wow, I fangirled both of those back in the day.

[inkstone]

Yeah, with my wok, if it's seasoned properly, you shouldn't have to wash it with soap because the stuff won't stick to it anymore.

[st_aurafina]

This is what I've learned from my awesome flist - I'm going to get the seasoning process started on the weekend. (This takes a while, apparently. And there is a need to cook bacon!) And I'll be using water to clean. Thank you!

[devildoll]

What we do is get the pan wet, throw in a handful of salt (we use kosher, but any will do), then scrub lightly with a rag or paper towel. Rinse, and put the pan on a hot burner just until it's dry. We've done this for I don't know how many years and our pans are clean, pretty much non-stick, and not rusty at all.

[bossymarmalade]

Seconded! A good scrub with salt will soak up and grind out whatever mess there is.

[st_aurafina]

Okay - salt and scrub, rinse and dry. I'm going to season the pan this weekend, and cook some bacon. They say to start with bacon. (Which is fortunate, because I love bacon!)

Thanks!

[ex_pippin880]

My friends vetoed the nutella brownies, by the way. :(

[st_aurafina]

Who are these evil people?

How hot is it where you are? Can I mail you some? Will they turn liquid at this stage?

[ex_pippin880]

One is allergic to hazelnuts, but the others just don't like nutella (?!?!?!)

Aw, thank you for the offer! But I think a whole lot of brownies just for me is probably a bad plan. :(

[havocthecat]

But the leaflet also said something that is disturbing to me: don't use detergent on your cast iron pan, as it will remove the patina.

I'm sure other people have said it, but you can heat it up! Heat will kill the germs, and re-seasoning it properly will make it non-stick. Cast iron skillets are amzing.

I mean, you could clean it with soap, but you'd have to re-season it constantly, and that would be a huge pain.

[st_aurafina]

Over on LJ, I was told, if there was caked on stuff, to put water in it, and boil it to loosen the crud, then scrub it a bit with no soap. And pretty much everyone has said to put it on the hotplate and heat it.

I am willing to give it a go - I want the awesome of cast-iron.

Thank you!