I love cooking and I am always wanting to experiment and try out new recipes and create my own versions. The problem is that I am not good at following recipes word for word and ingredient for ingredient. I love looking through cook books and watching cookery programmes to get ideas and inspiration, yet I hate having to follow a recipe by the letter because if truth be told:
- I dont always have all the necessary ingredients required
- I am too lazy to go out and buy what I am missing
- I do not enjoy having to follow every step – I like to be more free hand in my cooking methods!
It is very rare that I produce a meal which I have seen in a cook book that was made from all the ingredients listed. In fact it is a running joke with my OH in my home that it is a waste of time me owning any cookery books (of which I have so many I now have no more room in my designated cook book cupboard!), because by the time I have made the meal featured it is so far removed from the original version due to all my replacing of ingredients!
Sometimes, though I would actually like to make a few new culinary creations to add to my amateur cooking repertoire. A couple of items on my to-do list are spun sugar and homeade jam, both of which I would like to recreate for different reasons. Spun sugar always adds that wow factor to a special occassion dessert and on the recent Great British Bake Off Show it was featured and it did not look too complicated. I think my main concerns would be scolding my skin from the sugary molten lava that is needed to make this dessert topper.
photo credit : http://www.thegoodlifemum.com
Jam making is something that has always intrigued me. My Nanny used to make the best raspberry jam and I really like the idea of producing lots of jars of Jenny’s Homemade Jam, with pretty labels and attractive jars to give as gifts to my family and taste myself on fresh home baked bread. I think jam making just seems homely somehow and very satisfying to see all those fruity preserve filled jars lined up all made by me!
However, even if I could gather all the correct ingredients to make homemade preserves and try my hand at making spun sugar, there is still one vital item that I am missing. I need to invest in a food thermometer to be able to get the liquids to their desired temperatures.It is not like they cost much money either, it is just one of those things that I do not think about purchasing until I think about making a food which requires the use of one, and then my new food making ideas come to an abrupt end!
I think it might be time to add one to my next shopping list, don’t you?
Disclaimer: This is a guest post written on behalf of Digital-Meters.Com
a thermometer is a must when it comes to cooking meat – especially poultry – no one wants a dry turkey & with a thermometer you can make sure the meat is at the correct temp without over cooking, perfect turkey every time! (in theory….)
x
I just invested in a thermometer this week. It had been on my wish list for some time but this week’s bake off prompted me to finally make the purchase. Hope you review whatever you end up buying, would love to hear how you get on.