OK, so you've made candy cigarettes (or you've read about it, enraptured). You're left with a ton of leftover gum paste, with nary a clue what to do with it.
Allow us to be of service! Faux Altoids, here we go.
First, you need to make gum paste. Don't know how to do that? Check out our DIY candy cigarettes post, or this Instructables. It's basically egg white and sugar thickened to the point where it can dry out if left to its own...
Tuesday night was Masters of Social Gastronomy: The Flavor Battles. Vanilla extract and Ceylon cinnamon squared off against artificial vanilla and ersatz cinnamon (née cassia) in snickerdoodle form: but which cookie took the cake?
First, a bit of history.
VANILLA
Vanilla is an orchid and, in the tradition of orchids, is quite tempermental. It refused to grow anywhere but its native Mexican soil thanks to the presence of a specific...
If you haven't read Fast Food Nation, I'll go ahead and recommend it. You probably know what it's about, so I won't waste your time explaining!
In doing some research for the artificial vs. natural flavoring Masters of Social Gastronomy, I came across a pretty fun excerpt about what makes fast food so tasty:
A typical artificial strawberry flavor, like the kind found in a Burger King strawberry milk shake, contains the following ingredients:...
We have lots of free/not-free-yet-awesome things coming your way this week!
First, on Tuesday, come on up to Public Assembly for our the next installment of our Masters of Social Gastronomy lectures. They're free monthly talks on all things food history and science, presented by Sarah Lohman of Four Pounds Flour and our very own Jonathan Soma.
This month, we're taking on imitation ingredients, and, best of all, there'll be a...
Our next MSG lecture is on Tuesday, March 27, and it's going to be the most epic yet, as we take on the history and science of imitation ingredients. There'll even be a sample-heavy showdown where you get to definitively decide if there's any difference between artifical and natural flavorings. RSVP now!
As for the lectures, Sarah will explore the history of artificial food, starting with medieval feasts obsessed with disgusting...
