Why hello there, half-written blog post I forgot I had started.

So, don't judge me. When I order my groceries every month I usually order four packs of pre-sliced apples (because four is the number of packs I can eat before they start turning brown). Yes, I know that pre-sliced apples are ridiculous, but eating regular apples hurts my mouth and slicing them is messy when I'm at work and all I want is a damn apple slice. And the pack of slices, which is about equal to one medium-sized apple, only costs ten cents more than an actual apple that has not been pre-sliced for my convenience, so I don't feel too badly about it.

The point is, I usually get four little bags with an apple's worth of pre-sliced apple in them, and I eat them the first week of the month, and I am happy with my apples.

Except apparently this past month they ran out of those, so they substituted a different item (PeaPod does this, it's always kind of an adventure). The item was a pack of apple slices whose only significant difference seems to be that they're organic, except that each bag also has about two apples' worth of apple slices which is way more apple than I can eat in a sitting.

And also PeaPod gave me twelve bags of them instead of four.

There I was with, basically, twenty-four pre-sliced apples for $4, and four days in which to eat them, and also I don't know where they're sourcing their apples but they were tart enough to border on sour. And also they don't list the kind of apple you get in the bag, so I couldn't make pie because you can only really use certain apples for pie. So I made applesauce!

It might actually be more accurate to say I invented applesauce, because the recipes I found on the internet varied wildly. One called for four apples and 3/4 cups sugar, while another called for eight apples and five tablespoons of sugar, et cetera. I like sugar, so I put about sixteen apples in the slow cooker, covered them with a cup of brown sugar and one of white sugar, added about half a bottle of dried valencia orange peel and a generous sprinkling of lemon juice, poured a cup of water over the whole thing, and let it all stew for like ten hours before pureeing the crap out of it.

And now I have a gallon of applesauce I did not intend to possess when the month began.

HOW D'YA LIKE THEM APPLES?

(Post a new comment)

baranduyn
2012-06-09 06:59 pm UTC (link)

Adventurs with food!

Applesauce is like about fifty other recipes; every person has their own.My variation doesn't include cloves because I don't like the smell or taste. Cloves remind me of toothaches.

My own involves a spice/seasoning mix called dukkah. Also, dukka and duqqua and another five or six variations in spelling in English. It is Egyptian...or North African or Middle Eastern or Turkish. It is used when mixed with oil as a dipping sauce...or a topping for roasting meats...or mixed into pastries. It is, in other words, whatever you want as long as you understand every variant contains some sesame seeds, cumin, coriander and some kind of nut.

I did not discover this while searching amongst the souks of Egypt or while nibbling at a food writers conference in Australia. I discovered it while watching episodes of The Great British Bake Off on YouTube. The episodes are now sadly gone. The Beeb is relentless. Anyway, one of the contestants mixed it into her bread dough and got rave reviews. She said she put it on everything...meat, pizza, everything.

I had to try it, right? The mix I settled on was almonds (hazelnuts, the ingredient listed in the first six recipes I found don't sound very Mediterranean basin to me) sesame seeds, cumin, coriander, salt, tumeric and paprika. Eh. I was putting it on beef (I KNOW) and it didn't smell like heaven. So I added garlic and thyme and that, when roasted on the beef WAS THE SHIT, LET ME TELL YOU.

I recommend it highly but watch those sesame seeds. They go from toasted to burnt and smelling awful without any warning at all. And you can put any damn thing you want in it; everyone does.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	copperbadge 2012-06-09 07:30 pm UTC (link)
	I've heard of Dukka! Always wanted to try it but wtf else would I use those spices for, so I never have. Though apparently you can get it pre-mixed in some Egyptian food stores in the US. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

baranduyn
2012-06-09 07:58 pm UTC (link)

It's versatile enough to go on anything, I think. The key might be just to make up a base mix and then suppliment as needed; allspice added for pork or lamb (along with garlic), mix with olive oil like pesto for a dipping sauce or a sauce for even pasta.

I had enough to go on my rice. I saw Yasmin (on TGBB) mix it into her bread dough. The real key to it is heat in terms of the roasty. Do not burn. But baked in with the dough...the Bread Freak judge (Paul Hollywood, no that's his name) went out of his mind when he sliced into that loaf.

Once the beef roasted (or grilled) a bit the smell was incredible. Tasted nice too. It's used bluntly on everything as far as I can tell, sort of like...I don't know if there's an American equivalent really. It'll go with anything.

But it's damn fine on rice as well.

(Reply to this)(Parent)