Yum yums

[veganray]

Thanx, BLURR! Your instincts are keen: I have actually already prepared all of those you mentioned for previous cupcake challenges (save for the rootbeer float - I did a Cherry Chocolate Dr Pepper float).

I was originally thinking of a creme-filled butterscotch krimpet, but was meh on butterscotch frosting. Jager, hmmmmmm…

[BLURR]

What about a hot toddy rendition of a cupcake?

Or possibly a dark chocolate lava cake type cupcake with a grand marnier frosting?

[Frank Delicious]

Strawberry basil cupcakes with a strawberry vauquelin on top to look like frosting.

[veganray]

vegan vauquelin = quite a challenge, I would think

[veganray]

Got it! The Elvis cupcake: snow-white Wonder cupcake cupcake heavily studded with bacon bits, filled with banana/honey purée, & topped with peanut butter buttercream & crushed salted peanuts.

Thanx for the inspiring posts. Strawberry/basil/vauquelin is defo on my radar as strawberry season starts to peak.

[Frank Delicious]

I was actually thinking about making those cupcakes after I made that post now so if I do it, I'll post pics and results.

[BLURR]

Got it! The Elvis cupcake: snow-white Wonder cupcake cupcake heavily studded with bacon bits, filled with banana/honey purée, & topped with peanut butter buttercream & crushed salted peanuts.

Thanx for the inspiring posts. Strawberry/basil/vauquelin is defo on my radar as strawberry season starts to peak.

With the exception of the bacon...almost sounds like a payday candybar.

[veganray]

Payday has banana?

[BLURR]

Payday has banana?

Doh...read right over the banana.

[veganray]

Last night:
whole wheat pappardelle with jerk-crusted tempeh cubes, sautéed mustard greens, caramelized infant turnips, bhut jolokia chile, and garlic chives
a shitload and 5/8 of Portuguese extra-virgin olive oil

[veganray]

Baked last night. Settled on banana/vanilla cupcake with a shitload of crumbled tempeh bacon baked in, topped with hickory-smoked peanut butter buttercream, halved dry-roasted peanuts, more crumbled tempeh bacon, Himalayan pink salt, and a dried banana chip.

[jubuttib]

To the culinary masters that seem to frequent this board: Most of my meals include either rice or noodles, and while I can make tasty dishes, I get bored sometimes. I love the various sauces they have in Chinese restaurants, and from what I can see they're mostly reduction sauces (though I might be dead wrong, obviously). What would be simple basic sauce recipe for me to get started with? I'd like to get the basics in check before I start experimenting with all sorts of spices.

At the moment pretty much the only sauce I can do is your basic brown sauce, I'd like to branch out a bit.

[veganray]

Everybody loves General Tso's sauce:

2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
2 tsp. sherry
1 Tbsp. granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. veggie stock or H2O
1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, finely minced
2 Tbsp. fresh garlic, finely minced
2 tsp. cornstarch
--------------------------------
2 Tbsp. peanut oil
3 green onions, thinly sliced on a bias
10-30 small dried red chiles (to taste)

In a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients above the line. Set aside.

Over an extremely high flame, thoroughly preheat a wok. Add the peanut oil, swirl to coat, then throw in the green onions & chiles. Stir-fry for 20-30 seconds, until aromatic but not burned.

Give the bowl another stir to recombine, then dump into the middle of the wok. Bring to a boil & simmer 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened.

What makes this recipe even more useful: omit the chiles, but stir in 1 tsp. of toasted sesame oil & a generous handful of sesame seeds at the end and, voilà, sesame sauce.

[Frank Delicious]

some recipes I've made before that have good easy sauces

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1939,14 ... 00,00.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/wolf ... index.html

[bergdawg]

some recipes I've made before that have good easy sauces

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1939,14 ... 00,00.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/wolf ... index.html

You're a fraud, you're not delicious.