First of all, has anyone ever had Chinese soup balls? They are dough, filled with ground meat, for example, then closed to look like a purse, gathered at the top.
When you eat them, there is soup inside.
Well, I saw how they were made! They cook the meat filling, then....wait for it....make something like an aspic from broth! Basically, jello-y broth.
They mix it into the meat, kind of smashing it some, then fill the dumplings. When it's time to serve, they are then steamed. That *melts* the aspic, leaving broth inside of the dumpling, voila!
Something else that I saw, which Ds had told me about, is a dessert called a Cherpumple. He said that some people call it Piecaken. But, the guy who invented it calls it cherpumple.
It's the weirdest looking thing. Imagine slicing a 3 layer cake, and having slices of pie inside!
He makes a cherry pie, pumpkin pie, and apple pie...thus the name...and puts each into a round cake pan. He makes them a tad dry, and leaves them on the counter overnight first.
Then, he pours cake batter over each pie, and bakes it.
When cooked and cooled, he stacks them with frosting between each, then frosts the outside. It's now become a 'thing.'
But, the interesting part, is why he invented it...to 'save the world.'
His large family would get together on holidays, and it was tradition that people brought pies...cherry, pumpkin, and apple, and that there was also a spice cake.
But, he used to notice that they used a ton of throwaway plates eating so many desserts. So, one year, he announced that the following year, they would have but one dessert, and save the planet using fewer throwaway plates. Then, he set about working on the cherpumple. Interesting, I thought, if a little, ahem, different!
I also saw a delicious idea. A man cooks pepper strips, onions, and meat on a flat top. It looked great.
Then, he takes fry bread dough, puts a couple of kinds of cheese on it, adds the veges and meat, seals half rounds, empanada-style, then drops them in the deep fryer, as you would fry bread.
I used to use my flat bread dough to make what Ds called 'pockets.' I filled them with many fillings, and they were delicious, and froze beautifully. The main difference, that I can tell, is that this man used an authentic fry bread recipe for his dough. I could eat a few of those!
I'll leave you with one more. Not a stretch or great tip, but kind of cute, especially for children.
A woman saw an ice cream presentation somewhere in Europe, and tried it when she got back.
You start with a white ice cream, probably vanilla. You put a big scoop into an extruder, which looks something like a potato ricer.
As you push down the handle, the ice cream comes out looking like spaghetti! You catch it in a container, of course!
Then, she took some homemade strawberry topping that she mixed with a 'boat motor,' as Emeril would say.
She ladled some over the ice cream, though not all over it...leave some white ice cream showing. That's the 'tomato sauce.'
Then, she microplaned some white chocolate over that for the 'parmesan.'
And, finally, a little bit of mint to play the part of basil!
As I said, not earth shaking, but super cute. Maybe kids could put their own together?
Anyway, that's enough of my chitter chatter, as I sometimes say. I hope that it made you think, and smile!
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