u/HoboToast

Thanks to u/Yrros_ton_yrros for the idea to make vindaloo for this theme! I went with mutton (technically lamb, I haven’t seen mutton at the grocery store in years) instead of pork in honor of this Red Dwarf scene where they try to convert Lister’s mutton vindaloo to chicken, accidentally creating a mutton vindaloo monster in the process.

Here’s the recipe I used. It was really good, it was flavorful and spicy!

Here’s some more pictures.

The Sacher torte is a famous Austrian dessert. It’s a chocolate cake with a layer of apricot jam in the middle, covered in chocolate ganache. It was really good, but not as rich as I expected.

Here’s the recipe.

And here’s more pictures.

I live in the Seattle suburbs. It’s blackberry, salmonberry, huckleberry, even wild raspberry country, but not cloudberry country. Regardless, I found a small patch a few miles from my house (no idea how they ended up there) and so I try to harvest enough to make something every summer.

I used my go-to Instant Pot cheesecake recipe for this, but mixed a few berries into the batter and then topped it with a layer of cooked-down berries in a bit of sugar. It was fruity, a bit tart, and delicious!

And here’s more pictures.

I live in the Seattle suburbs. It’s blackberry, salmonberry, huckleberry, even wild raspberry country, but not cloudberry country. Regardless, I found a small patch a few miles from my house (no idea how they ended up there) and so I try to harvest enough to make something every summer.

I used my go-to Instant Pot cheesecake recipe for this, but mixed a few berries into the batter and then topped it with a layer of cooked-down berries in a bit of sugar. It was fruity, a bit tart, and delicious!

And here’s more pictures.

This dish began as a viral video from a street food vendor in Ghaziabad, India. It sounds kind of grotesque but actually tasted surprisingly good! I’d eat it again.

I followed the instructions in this video, but I subbed red bell pepper for the tomato because tomatoes, ew.

Here’s some more pics.

This cake is from this scene in a Star Trek: Voyager episode, “Riddles” (S06E06), where Tuvok suffers an injury causing brain damage and gets really into cooking. The cloaking frequency he draws on top turns out to be the key to finding the aliens that caused his injury, and therefore a cure.

He describes it as a pistachio cake with parra cream sauce. I used this recipe for the pistachio cake, and for the parra cream I made a pear and Ramune soda frosting (parra, PEAR-RAmune, haha). I melted some chocolate, piped it roughly onto wax paper, and froze it for the side decorations. The cloaking frequency itself is just red decorating gel.

The cake itself was really good, but I was also really happy with how the frosting turned out!

Here’s more pictures.

I first saw this here on this subreddit, in this post by u/Texaskenny. It’s a double cheeseburger topped with sautéed onions, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos dust, and two entire Twinkies.

It actually wasn’t bad, not that I’ll be in a hurry to make it again. It was huge and awkward to eat, but flavor-wise it was more subtle than I expected.

Here’s some more pictures.

I made this for “Recreated” week on r/52weeksofbaking. It’s from this scene in Voyager S06E06: Riddles, where Tuvok suffers from brain damage and gets really into cooking.

He describes it as a pistachio cake with parra cream sauce. I used this recipe for the pistachio cake, and made a frosting from pear and Ramune soda (parra, PEAR-RAmune) for the parra cream. It turned out really good, taste-wise!

Here’s some more pictures.

Chow mein is a classic Cantonese dish, but this version is fusioned up with Indian flavors. It was really good, I’d definitely make it again!

Here’s the recipe. I added cabbage and water chestnuts, and used some sesame oil in addition to regular vegetable oil.

And here’s more pics.

I love bbq pork, but I had never even considered the possibility of making it at home before this week. I used this recipe, it was surprisingly easy and unsurprisingly delicious!

Served with hot mustard and sesame seeds, as it should be.

Here’s more pics.

These cookies were even better than I expected! I used this recipe, except I used fresh mango instead of frozen. I should have baked them just a tiny bit longer, they ended up being pretty fragile but still tasted great!

Here’s more pictures.

I made these for “Rice and Beans” week over at r/52weeksofbaking. I should have baked them a bit longer because they were pretty fragile, but they tasted even better than I expected!

Here’s the recipe I used.

And here’s more pictures.

I made chocolate chili crisp cookies last week, and thought the recipe would work well with mint instead. They were really good! The chocolate cookies are soft but still hold together really well.

I used this recipe, but swapped vegetable oil for the chili oil and mint extract for the vanilla. I also added some neon green food coloring to the frosting, and used chopped mint leaves in vegetable oil in place of the chili crisp drizzle.

Here’s some more pics.

I posted these for “Contrasts” week over at r52weeksofbaking last week, but forgot to post them here.

They were weird but not bad. The more I ate, the more they grew on me.

Here’s the recipe.

And here’s more pictures.

I had only attempted spherification once before, and it ended up being one of my grossest-looking posts ever. This year sister got me a molecular gastronomy cookbook for my bday, so I took another whack at it with a bit more knowledge this time. This one turned out a lot better!

I used Sonic brand ocean water jello for the base, a layer of whipped cream, and then berry lemonade Jones Soda for the “caviar.”

I used a reverse spherification process, so sodium alginate in the soaking solution (specifically 4 cups of water, 1 teaspoon sodium alginate, refrigerated overnight) and calcium lactate plus xanthan gum in the soda mixture (350g soda - rested a few hours to flatten out, 12g calcium lactate, 2g xanthan gum). It looked cool and tasted pretty good to boot!

Here’s some more pics.

These weren’t bad, but were kinda weird. On the first bite I thought “ew, gross,” but by the time I had finished the whole cookie it had really grown on me. I probably wouldn’t make them for myself again, but they’d be good on an assortment platter, or brought to a party if the guests are adventurous eaters.

Here’s the recipe.

And here’s more pictures.

I saw the Grapfruit Pie post last week (thank you u/theglassisfullfull) and immediately knew I had to try it. I like grapefruit, I like chocolate, and chocolate and citrus can work well together, so I thought it had potential. Unfortunately that potential was not realized.

This pie was gross. The Oreo “crust” was just a soggy mess, the filling was bitter, and the M&Ms did not pair well with the grapefruit at all. I still think a grapefruit-chocolate pie could work (dark chocolate, more sugar, no Oreos), but not this one.

I later learned that M. M. probably stands for marshmallows, not M&Ms, but I’m not really sure that would have made this any more edible. Or maybe my mistake was using grapefruit instead of grapfruit?

Anyway, here’s some pictures of the process.

This is based on a pork heart dish from a restaurant in Naha, Okinawa. I couldn’t find a recipe for it, so I had to guess the ingredients based on the picture. I also couldn’t find pork heart anywhere, so I used beef heart instead.

My version is sautéed beef heart cooked in a sauce of ponzu, garlic, ginger, sugar, sesame oil, and sriracha. I served it on rice and topped it with sesame seeds and green onion.

I like heart but had never had it cooked this way, I thought it was really good!

Here’s more pictures.

This is a beef and veggie pie with a tomato-Vegemite sauce. I used this recipe, except I added some extra vegetables and used puff pastry for the crust. I also slow-cooked the beef roast all day before adding it to the veggie mixture. It turned out really good!

Here’s some more pictures.

Here’s the recipe, and I used puff pastry for the crust. On top are just some mini marshmallows that went under the broiler for a few seconds. It tasted like a regular sweet potato pie, but wasn’t as moist as I would have liked.

Here’s some more pics.