Pine nut Peculiarity

For many years I had an aversion to pine nuts, now I know my devastatingly astute subconscious knew something that I was completely oblivious to.

The flavour and smell of pine nuts, without being glaringly obvious was, well, um, too, ‘piney’, like having a mouthful of disinfectant and also bore more than just a passing resemblance to those disgusting ticks that hitch rides on unsuspecting pets. But recently it seemed that my tastes had changed and I actually quite liked them. So I treated myself to a small bag with the intention of creating an absolutely divine culinary masterpiece centred around the now very wonderful pine nuts. Of course, a sampling was in order and duly administered (also got me wondering about the possibility of pine nut cupcakes; must see if there’s a recipe somewhere) and that was that, satisfaction accomplished I moved on with my day.

Some hours later I began to notice a rather nasty metallic taste in my mouth. I tried several ways to get rid of it, but when it was still as evident 2 days later, a slight element of panic began to creep over me. Having just finished a course of iron tablets I wondered if it could be that. Then I caved in and trawled the internet against what first seemed to be my better judgement. I cowered in terror as the list in front of my eyes grew ever longer and ever more alarming. Oh yes, that’s got to be it, mercury poisoning. Oh no, hang on its definitely Scombrotoxic Fish Poisoning; nope its got to be copper toxicity or lead poisoning. The list was endless and I was certain of a ghastly and fairly imminent demise.

Then a link to mumsnet talk caught my eye, with a tantalising reference to pine nuts. From there it was just a press of a key to Wikipedia and a whole barrel full of information about ‘Pine Mouth’. I’ll admit that Pine Mouth sounds even more alarming than other suggestions thrust at me but, at least l knew a) it would eventually go away (although some people report it lasting up to 10 days mine lasted only 4), b) my demise was not quite as imminent as I had first imagined and c) my initial misgivings were probably the right ones, so listening to myself might be advisable in future; though perhaps not if I tell me to eat 2 large bars of Galaxy chocolate… oh, I dunno though….

So, Pine nut cupcakes will definitely NOT be on my list of things to make today, thank you very much

Filed on: From the Kitchen by: Karen | Sunday, 6th March, 2011 at 11:51 am | Leave a comment

Furtive Icing Part 2

I was astounded by the myriad of recipes and instructions that abound for making up this stuff. One recipe said leave it over night before using and sieve it, one said stand for 30mins before using and yet others made no mention of a standing time. Some said cold water, others lukewarm. Then there were all the different water to Meri-White ratios. So I made a comparison table just to give myself some idea of the discrepancies.

It seems one mans meat is definitely another mans poison and what work for one, doesn’t necessarily work for others, but which one was my Holy Grail? (In case it hasn’t become obvious yet, I have managed to convince myself that it’s the icing and not the fact that I am absolutely rubbish). Where to begin? Well, I decided to approach the matter in a scientific way, that is, the application of a dress pin over the recipes with my eyes shut. The result of this highly technical manoeuvre was duly selected. This happened to be Recipe 6. I duly studied said recipe and got ready to put it into action.

Although it wasn’t specified I left the Meri-White to stand for 45mins prior to mixing.

The resulting royal icing was of a very good consistency but then I noticed that the icing sugar used was actually a pre-mix one from Silver Spoon for fondant icing and contained glucose. See? Doomed before I even get started.

Even so, it wasn’t too bad and I tried again to create breathtaking masterpieces in sugar.

I tentatively imagined they were slightly better then I faced up to cold reality and realised I’m just getting desperate, or maybe I ought to change glasses, but the ‘flowers’ were definitely not the way they’re supposed to be. Now I am just going to have to wait and see how they harden up.

Meanwhile, I will now buy some plain icing sugar and try again with right ingredients, or should I just try another recipe? Would it actually work any better with ordinary icing sugar? Or do I need to get out more and stop torturing myself over something that was never meant to be?
Have just found on Amazon a wonderful book by the amazing Eddie Spence on royal icing…….. hmmm….

Footnote. I think I may have discovered a whole new discipline in sugar artistry. The resulting ‘flowers’ had a most unique texture, somewhere in-between a rather strange modelling medium I remember from my childhood and foam. Needless to say, they obviously never deemed to harden. Still it’s all a wonderful learning curve, isn’t it?

Filed on: From the Kitchen by: Karen | Sunday, 6th March, 2011 at 11:45 am | Leave a comment