welp, as promised elsewhere, our happy hour delight for this day is Guinness Floats!
here is a recipe to include a better photo of this lovely concoction (I do not have a proper soda fountain glass to prepare these in - a bowl will be much more suited to my style):
I was first introduced to this by my Dear Brother when he was a mere undergrad at U Dub (Washington, back when we lived in Seattle) at a coffee house two blocks off campus called The Last Exit (on Brooklyn Ave).
good times!
Today I made chutney turnovers, a sequential adaptation recipe. In Mumbai they sell a grilled cheese sandwich layered with cilantro-mint chutney. Epicurious had a recipe using puff pastry that you rolled into a log and sliced, which is very good. I had some precut squares of pastry I got for a dinner party a while ago and I wanted to get them out of the freezer, and I had cilantro, a hot pepper, and some mint and Thai basil all ready to be finished in the fridge, so I made up some chutney in the blender, spooned it on the pastry, spread it with grated cheese, sprinkled red onion on top and folded them closed. Egg wash, more cheese on top and baked until golden. Worked out pretty well-the filling leaked more than I like but the taste is nice and the pastry got crispy. Who knows, next time I might just make the sandwich!
sounds pretty awesome. what type of cheese?
cilantro, mint and Thai basil make awesome chutney or chimichurri. we grow all three and play with those flavors a lot.
BTW: my Thai basil is from a potted start I bought over 4 years ago. that stuff will. not. die. (at least not in this climate)
The cheese was Wood River Cheddar Gruyère, which is a nice semi-hard fairly sharp cheese with less salt than a mature cheddar and more nutty notes. I can get kilo blocks for a good price at the wholesalers, so it’s usually in the house. The cheese needs to hold up against the chutney, which I make quite mild so mom will eat it, but in the original is pretty fiery.
I bought this a while ago - it’s apparently based on a Philippines ketchup but I can’t vouch for the distance between the Philippines sauce and this. It’s definitely a ketchup but is … strangely cloying without being overly sweet? It’s really hard to describe.
We’ll finish the bottle and I’m glad I tried it, but I won’t buy another. It’s also the most staining sauce I’ve ever come across - it’s like liquid turmeric and leaves everything yellow.
Edited for grammar
Based on a recipe in an earlier post by @FloridaManJefe I’ve been experimenting with a carrot/mango/lime/habanero hot sauce. The flavour is awesome but I added a lot of vinegar to keep the pH low, so it’s probably more like a super-hot tobasco sauce.
The habanero plants are wildly productive so there’ll be a few experiments over the next few weeks - I also want to try a lacto-fermented version but I don’t feel comfortable without a pH meter. I also want to try a version with some oven roasted peppers and other veg. If you have any recipes you love, post them - I’ll have enough peppers to try a few types!
(For scale, the little yellow ones are about 1cm diameter.)
And the colour! Wow!
Sold!!
wow! looks awesome! the flavors do work well together, for sure.
this season, I am trying out the lacto-fermented type of sauce and have two batches under airlocks right now! it is a little daunting at first, but I will report back when compllete (or never to be heard from again which would mean disastrous failure 
).
here is the article that got my interest up enough to try it. the two batches I am making are the habanero double berry and the roasted fresno with tamari and roasted garlic oil (don’t panic RE: the garlic, it is roasted and mixed with olive oil and used to “finish” the sauce. this greatly reduces the chance of botulinum growth)
ETA do still keep pH below 4.0 (target range 3.4 - 3.6). a meter is a good idea
The fermentation adds an amazing layer of flavor, I think you’re going to love it!
My eyes are burning just looking at that picture.
Yowza!
Yes, I would pour that on everything. Cheers!
Too much butter is exactly how I like my chocolate chip cookies!
Do you all ever just have days when everything you touch in the kitchen is an epic fail? We’re having another couple over tonight for a belated St Patrick’s day feast with corned beef, colcannon, braised cabbage, and a chocolate stout torte.
Fail 1: I’m doing the beef in my sous vide at 180F for 10 hours. For whatever reason, the reusable bag I have it in decided to creep open and the steam from the water bath ended up collecting in the bag. I checked everything at 2 hours and was kind of upset but determined to soldier on. I drained most of the offending liquid and put it all back in and am crossing my fingers that It’ll be edible tonight.
Fail 2: I made the chocolate stout torte but noticed that it cooked WAY faster than the recipe said it should (warning sign number 1 that something is wrong). We’re taking half an hour instead of an hour. Glad I checked when I did and pulled it out before it got overdone.
Fail 3: I failed to add sugar to the aforementioned torte and it is terrible/inedible. I took a little nibble of a drip on the baking vessel and immediately knew that something was tragically wrong.
Trying to sum up the energy/courage to make something else and debating thawing some backup protein in case the beef is a failure.
Your ability to find the perfect gif for the occasion is uncanny 
I must say in cooking like in life I learn more from mishaps than an easy success.
Also most my food mistakes are still eatable.
Thank you for sharing. Cheers!
Oh, yes, and almost always only when company is coming over.
Guinness floats to the rescue?
I only bought one can of stout 
Making my fallback torte:
125g of the following:
3 eggs, separated and whites whipped to a soft peak.
Mix dry ingredients, melt chocolate and butter together. Add wet ingredients to dry, fold in the whites… Bake for 40 mins at 320F in a greased and parchmented 8" square or round pan… chef’s kiss
I usually add in a little splash of vanilla, but it would also be good with some Chambord or other tasty liquid.
