Meatloaf

Growing up, I was not a fan of meatloaf. All the things Alton describes as being wrong with it I wholeheartedly agree with

Great meatloaf is always juicy, but it never falls apart. It is neither bland nor so heavily seasoned that is looses its meaty soul.

The problem is, it was overly seasoned, and did fall apart.

This is the second time I've made this recipe. This is the second time I've had less than thrilling results. I followed this to the letter and did not get a crunch glaze. I was very careful about over mixing the ingredients. Still, the meat came out with a texture I just did not like. The "meaty soul" was lost in this. Considering this came from the same episode as the Burger of the Gods, this was somewhat disheartening.

Also, Alton's penchant for cumin is alive and well. I just really don't like this spice. Alton does. This often leaves me at odds with some of his recipes.

If you have made this recipe and have had success, I'd love to know where you think I might have gone wrong. This definitely falls into the I won't make again category.





Recipe Link

Slow Cooker Pepper Pork Chops

This is a touch of sweet and a touch of spicy. The pork would have pulled off the bone had I been using bone-in chops. I was not. I'm okay with that. Still delicious.

With the pork as tender as it is, I'm going to try pulling it apart and make sandwiches out of them.




Recipe Link

Dark Salty Caramels

It's that time of year again: The Holiday Season. Time to start making cookies and candies to give as gifts to friends, neighbors, family, coworkers, and whoever else you'd like.

I don't know why I got the bug last night, but I decided to give these a whirl. Especially due to the the top-secret ingredient in the list. So, I measured out the ingredients and away I went. Sadly, these did not keep their shape.

I blew it in two places. The first being that I'm not sure I got the molten sugar all the way up to 350. This being because my digital thermometer fell into said sugar. Surprisingly, it did survive and is working now. But, not at the crucial moment. You don't want to play chicken with molten sugar. One second off and you go from dark to burned.

The second mistake was forgetting to let the molten sugar rest for two minutes before adding the butter and cream mixture.

These are quite tasty. Sweet and salty with a little bit of spiciness due to said secret ingredient. I like them and so did those who tried a sample. Would I make this again? Yup.

Oh...and just what was the top-secret ingredient? Soy sauce.









Recipe Link