Flavor. That's what recipes are about, right? Of course! But how to get all the flavors piled into a sandwich and still have something close to the size of my bite and still not squeeze the contents out?
For instance, a hamburger. I want lettuce, sweet pickle relish, slice of onion, jalapeno, slice of tomato, horseradish sauce, ketchup and yellow mustard. Once assembled, the only way to make it bite-able is to crush it.
However, even crushed, the ingredients squeeze out and fall to the plate. Well, sometimes the plate. Most often they find their way to the table, my lap or the floor. Sometimes they will ooze down my hands onto my forearms. Sure, I could reduce the ingredients but that would deny me the gratification of my favorite burger. I am not at all good at self denial so reducing ingredients is a losing effort. I've tried chopping all the ingredients and wrapping them in a torilla but the tortilla splits open and makes an even bigger mess.
My buddy suggested that I eat from a trough like the pig that I am. I found his suggestion unsuitable. I don't want to carry a trough wherever I go. His sarcasm did stir my mind enough to make me think that a bread product similar to a bread bowl would work. A cross between a bun and a bread bowl? But how? Maybe make with pizza crust for the bottom and breadstick dough for the sides? Can't be tough, though. Must be small enough to be practical like a burger bun yet capable of holding everything I want. Gotta think. Think. Think. Think.
I try to not be bothered by what is said in the blogs. Most negative remarks I regard as opinion and let them go. In fact, if my fruitcake blog were reviewed, it would be noted that a lot of fun remarks came from fruitcake likers and fruitcake dislikers. Over the years, I have altered a recipe for fruitcake many times trying to develope my own fruitcake recipe that I would be proud to publish. This past November, I believe was the culmination of my efforts. Two readers have made it and raved about it which makes me a happy puppy.
All that being said, my point is coming from an unnecessary and out of place remark written by a certain "celebrity chef" on this site. It seems that all of my efforts have contributed to the disappearance of home made food gifts. Here's the link.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/homemade-chipotle-oil/detail.aspx , and the quote. "Thanks to things like fruitcakes so dense they have their own gravitational fields, making edible gifts has gotten a bad name..." Really though, that remark has zero influence on my continuing to make fruitcake nor will it influence my willingness to give food gifts, which will include fruitcake. If that offends the food snobs, oh well. TS!
I would like to give a brief history of home made food gifts becoming "unwanted" and it is not because of real fruitcakes.
In the late 60's, there was a large group of people became very sick with botulism. Investigation revealed that it was some home made canning that was the cause. The news media (of course) had a very profitable hayday telling the world that home canning was killing the population. It remained a sensation for a few weeks until another scandal began selling advertising. What was not reported was that botulism is always the result of careless preparation or improper canning procedure. The person who supplied that produce had "hot packed" the produce, a procedure where the hot produce is packed into jars, sealed and put into the pantry. The University of Georgia and Michigan State University published safe canning techniques to prevent botulism but that never made a story sensational enough for the media to broadcast. They want death, deprivation and destruction, not ill paying safety information. All that is necessary when canning, is careful attention to preparation of the produce and an approprite time in a "hot water bath".
That news sensation did scare me, though. I am a huge fan of home preserved food but I may spend too much time in prep and when canning. I get paranoid with my procedure, sometimes repeating to be sure I did it right.
The weeks of the media telling everybody that if they received a home made food gift that they should not eat it because they may get killed by it scared the population into buying only commercial products, even some home canners. Ironically, those commercial products have caused more harm to the population than any combination of home canning yet everybody continues buying the commercial products. Other than recall information, where is the sensationalism? Why does it take six weeks to report salmonella in packaged fresh spinach? The commercial canners are advertisers, folks, and if the happy, big, and green guy gets upset he might stop advertising. Don't expect the media to cut their money ties.
As for fruitcakes ruining people's appetite for home made gifts? Pffft and spit! I will grant that they are far from fluffy, aren't colored with dye and not loaded with processed sugar and preservatives, but they are honest and real. A visual take is all that is needed to prove that. One slice will hold back the appetite for a couple of hours so, yeah, they are heavy.
It was the commercial fruitcakes that were (and are) a ball of poorly cooked dough and lack of the expected ingredients (like fruit and nuts) that created the untrue image of fruitcakes. It seemed that everybody was giving fake fruitcakes as presents that were little more than colored dough with cinnamon and nutmeg flavors. Those were not nor will they be fruitcakes. Real fruitcake cannot be mass produced cheaply. Using real ingredients, my fruitcake costs somewhere in the mid $30.00. Now, so many people will not even try fruitcake because they have been told it is a horrible thing. It is, if it comes in a commercial package.
My next rant: refined (processed) sugar.
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