Pixle Squared

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Everything is beautiful and nothing hurts.

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Once upon a time in the 1920’s, the Great Depression hit Québec pretty hard. Due to lack of certain ingredients, such as eggs, female factory workers came up with a dessert that combined really easy to get and cheap ingredients at the time. The result is the Poudding Chômeur (Unemployment Pudding / Poor man’s Pudding) a recipe that continues to be a favorite of Québec families to this day. While not as cheap as before due to the fact that Maple Syrup costs a lot more, it is very easy to prepare and really good.

There won’t be picture of how to do in this recipes because in pure Québec tradition, it combines the typical ‘looks eeh but taste great and a snap to do’ philosophy we seem to have with most of our popular dishes.

I saw an English version online that adds a bunch of stuff that no one in Quebec would add such as lemon rinds, nutmeg, raisins (okay this is sometimes added but so rarely) and the sauce has no maple syrup. UNACCEPTABLE. So here, from my own recipe, is Pouding Chômeur, Quebcer style.

INGREDIENTS
For the cake:
1 1/2 cup of flour
1 cup of plain white sugar
2 tbs of baking powder
1 cup of milk
1/4th cup of butter
2 teaspoons of vanilla (personal preference this is not in the original recipe)

For the syrup:
1 cup of boiling water
1 cup of maple syrup (this can be replaced by table syrup for a cheaper price, but it will not taste as good)
1 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of butter

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 325F, set to middle rack.

- Melt the 1/2 cup of butter (for the cake and sauce) in the microwave until it is liquid, but not so that it boils either. Go in bursts of 20 seconds, mixing each time until it is nice and liquid.

- Take half of that, put it in a bowl. Mix in all of the white sugar with a spatula. Mix until the sugar is nice and yellowish with the butter. Remember to just use a spatula. Add in the vanilla if you are doing it at this point.

- Mix the flour with the baking powder

- Add 1/3rd of the milk into the sugar/butter mixture, mix it in. Add 1/3rd of the flour, mix it in. Keep repeating until you have it all inside the mixture. ALWAYS MIX WITH A SPATULA.

- Add into a 13x19 or similair size pan, that you have buttered very lightly.

- Now time to make the sauce!

- Dump all the sauce ingredients together. FUCK YEAH THAT’S EASY.

- Now, and trust me on this, dump the sauce on top of the cake. DO NOT MIX. TRUST ME. I REPEAT DO NOT MIX, LET IT STAND ON THE TOP.

- Put in oven for 45 minutes.

- Remove after 45 minute, check with a toothpick. As long as nothing comes back, it’s done! You will notice that most of the sauce has gone under the cake.

- Cut a piece and enjoy it with vanilla ice cream (obviously not something they would have eaten it at the great depression, but always served with around here nowadays.)

- You can serve it bottom side or top side. Restaurants tend to serve it both sides. Either way it’s not that pretty, just delicious.

Apples inside of apples! It’s like a dream within a dream and…

Okay with that out of the way, let’s get down to business. William Shakespear once said, “An overflow of good converts to bad.” This is pretty true in cuisine as well, sometimes keeping things simple is what’s best. In this case, giving the apple a nice fall farewell salute. But stuffing one of its brethren inside itself and ROASTING IT IN AN OVEN AT HIGH HEATS MWHAHAHA—ahem.

I got this idea from a plurk that mentioned making apple pies inside of apples. I just didn’t feel like making a crust or eating one tonight, so I figured ‘what the hell, I’ll just do an apple inside an apple.’ Because apples are delicious.

There are no pictures for this one, so you’ll just need to read my writing and imagine it in your head. Possibly with bears, flames, explosion and roaring guitars.

The hardest part is cutting your apple. You will need a sharp knife, and a small spoon. Hold the knife at around 30 degrees at the apple’s top and push in until you get to the core. Repeat all around until you get a large part out. Use the spoon to scoop out some of the sides so you have a nice inside. DO NOT TAKE TOO MUCH OUT or else your apple will melt while cooking due to lack of a proper apple insulation. An applulation, if you will (this is totally real okay).

Keep what you can, and add it to your apple mix in small tiny cubes. skin and cut an entire normal apple, and add it along and you should have enough for three filed apples.

For the filling, I used the following:
- 1-2 teaspoons of cinnamon (more to taste)
- A dash of nutmeg (not needed)
- 3 tbs of brown sugar
- 2 tbs of maple syrup (add 1 more tbs of brown sugar if you do not have any)

You will also need:
- Parchment paper
- Preheating your oven to 350F/180C, put a grid in the middle.

You can fill them two ways, keep the top and put that back on for cooking (cut off the lower part of that top so you can fit it like a lid) or forget the lid and just let it cook so that the apples get crispy on top.

I wrapped the apples tightly around with a thin sheet of parchment paper; this was to make sure that the apples would not crumble or plop down on me, as well as not burn the sides too much. We want this to be delicious, not a sloppy mess.

Put in the oven! Cook for around 15-25 minutes depending on the strength of your oven. Check at 10 minutes in to make sure it’s not overcooking.

Then it’s time for plating!
Things that go well with cinnamon and apples;
- Vanilla/French Vanilla/Gotta have Vanilla in there
- Caramel
- Vanilla Caramel/Butterscotch ice cream swirl
- Whipped cream

I went for the first two.

And there you have it. Apples inside of apples. Delicious, simple and really cheap to make.

I couldn’t even wait not to eat it before I took a photograph of the uncovered open apple. They are just that good.

I’ve had a cooking passion since I was a kid. I used to be afraid of a lot of things involving cooking; fire, sharp knives, getting boiling water dumped on me.

Funny how that all goes away once you’re stuck in the middle of the action.

Anyway tonight, I’ll be sharing a home recipe that I like to make for both my boyfriend and I, packed with delicious veggies, fruits and pork. And relatively cheap too, if you buy your stuff on sale. Also keep in mind that cooking main dishes unlike deserts is more of a guideline that actual measurements. I say 2 tablespoons for people who absolutely need measurements, but when I cook it’s mostly “dump some of this and some of that and keep tasting until you like it.”

First up is the pork. Here’s what you’ll need:

INGREDIENTS
- 2-3 Pork slices, chopped.
- 1 tbs white vinager
- 2tbs brown sugar
- 1/2 tbs of garlic powder
- 2 tbs of Worcestershire sauce
- 2tbs of maple syrup (This is a personal preference)
- 1 tbs of Hosen sauce.
- 3 tbs of ketchup (not pictured)
- A dash of salt

A bit of mixing and chopping action later…

If you have time, you can leave it to soak for a few hours, but honestly the taste is just as awesome without making you wait. You don’t need a special slice of pork either; here I used pork filet which I buy at costco, boneless pork loin. Super cheap and delicious if done right. LIKE WE ARE DOING TODAY!

Now you’re ready to start cooking! First of all 1) REMEMBER TO KEEP THE HEAT LOW and 2) MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A NONSTICK PAN. You will see why soon. Now slow cook this, juices and all until it cooks well outside, like so;

Now you’re gonna need to thicken your sauce! And to do that, you use good old Mr. Cornstarch to do that. To do this you make a SLURRY which is a fancy word for mixing some cornstarch with water. Never, ever add in cornstarch directly into a dish you’ll just get nice pieces of eww.

Check out this action show. Oh baby. Raise the temperature to medium-high.

See how it’s doing it’s job less than thirty seconds? Now here’s the part were the non-stick pan is important and you’ll need to trust me. I want you to keep cooking your meat until it becomes this near black crystalized look, turning over when one side gets more done;

You can’t do this in a pan that’s too old or sticks, you’ll just end up with a beautiful burn mess underneath. But this is what you’re looking for. You can eat this right as is- it’s really delicious and tastes a lot like ribs…only with no bones and just the meat! SO GOOD.

But we’re making a salad. The title of this plurk is not PORK ON PORK. So while your pork is cooking, let’s prepare that mofo.

Making a good salad is an art upon itself but there are a few basic rules that fit for pretty much any dish;
- Nothing should overpower another ingredient.
- Have something crunchy for good texture
- Use only ingredients which compliment each other.
- COLOR!
Apart from that, go wild. I cut up my things a certain way, but you can make them bigger or smaller if you like.

So following the rules and knowing pork was the main ingredient of the dish and that is was rather sweet thanks to the sauce,  I used the following things:
- Dried apricot (the flavor is very mild, and it adds color)
- Dried cranberries (slightly tart flavor, it also adds some color)
- Pomagranite seeds (tart flavor, it also adds a nice crunch)
- Tomatoes (color, mild flavor)
- Oven roasted almonds (throw your almonds in an over at 300C for ten minutes, VOILA! They add crunch and have this beautiful nutty flavor)
- Celery (crunch, gives a tiny water-like taste when eaten which elevates the dish)
- Green onions (to put on the pork only)
- Brie cheese (to put on top of the still-hot pork so it melts a little)
- The Salad itself is Roquette which is grown locally. It’s a bit milder tasting that salad. If you don’t have this in your region a very simple garden mix will do, or a green salad. Anything but Cesar and Iceberg will do. Cesar is a bit too powerful and will take over the dish’s taste, and Iceberg is…well…iceberg.

So how did I pick these? You may ask. Simply put; experimenting, seeing what tastes best and what looks nice together. For example, cucumber would not fit as well here as celery, it lacks the same crunch and the flavor is more earthy. Slices of pepper could have fit if it was sweet (red, orange or yellow). But I didn’t have some on hand. Also too many ingredients is like too few.

And now to make it all come together, you’ll need a ~~SECRET DRESSING~~ that no doubt takes time to do and..

Okay no, this is super easy to do. ARE YOU READY FOR THIS, PIXLE’S ALL PURPOSE SALAD DRESSING: 1/3rd balsamic vinegar, 1/3rd olive or canola oil, 1/3 maple syrup.

That’s it. Replace maple syrup with 1/3rd  brown sugar if you don’t have any on hand. Sweet, delicious and with just enough of a vinegar kick. I have not doubt any store salad dressing for a couple of years and mostly use this one and others I will end up showing later in another post.

PRESENTATION
Sure it will taste good, but presentation is also important. It makes your friends wow and your boyfriend go ‘man this looks good.’

First off, pile on that salad. DO NOT JUST PLOP IT ON THE DISH. Make a MOUNTAIN OUT OF IT. Keep in mind that the pork will be put on top of this hot so it will sink from all the ingredients. This is the perfect time to add the dressing in the middle, adding it later means you’ll get the color from the dressing sticking out.

Here’s what you do next: pile most of your ingredients on top. How much or how little depends on you; you might want more of a certain ingredient than the other. Keep the top of that mountain clean; you want it to stay raised up until you dump that pork on top. Once you put the pork on top, quickly add the green onions and the brie. Add a few more ingredients on top if you feel like it.

The brie will not melt completely, but it will have this half-melted taste which goes so well with the pork.

Now stuff your face in with delicious Pork Salad.

Done.