Day 148 - Dijonaisse, Apricot BBQ Sauce, Baked BBQ Tofu, and Chocolate Chip Walnut Pound Cake

Dijonaisse

After my second experience making the Silken Mayo, I thought I had unlocked the key to the magic of the recipe, i.e. maple syrup vs. agave nectar. Alas, this batch was on the sweet side again. I think I'll just cut back a little on the syrup next time, as I have a lot of variations on this recipe yet to do....

I love mustard and I was hopeful for this, but it was only OK and languished in my fridge unused.

SFO: 4

Apricot BBQ Sauce

I love a fruity sauce. And I love apricots. This should have been a hole-in-one for me, but it ended up being only OK. I think I know why.

First of all, it was probably too early in the season to be cooking with apricots. They just didn't have that great apricot-ty flavor yet.

Second, I think there's something up with my liquid smoke. The flavor is just too overwhelming. I either need to cut back on the amount or change brands.

When it was time for tasting this sauce and adjusting the seasonings, I found I needed more maple syrup and more salt - it just seemed, I don't know, blah.

In the end, it was fine, but not the fruity wonder I was expecting.

SFO: 9

Baked BBQ Tofu

Hmm. Again, another recipe that should've been a winner but just didn't register.

First you bake slices of pressed tofu in oil and soy sauce. The tofu gets somewhat leathery, but not really fried. And then with all that oil in the baking pan, you pour the BBQ sauce on and keep cooking it. I couldn't help thinking that this dish would have benefited from removing the oil before adding the sauce.

It's possible that my results were skewed because I cooked this in a smaller pan than directed; the pieces seemed cramped during the first stage of cooking. (Who has a 9x18 baking pan anyway?)

Here's Alysha with some tofu on her plate, and the other picture is the baking pan with the tofu covered with BBQ sauce.
 
SFO: 3
Chocolate Chip Walnut Pound Cake

Definitely my favorite pound cake variation in the book so far!

I went out of my way not to overmix this, and the results were much better. So I'm going to declare a typo. Do not mix the pound cakes "with electric beaters for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, until a very thick batter forms." This is a recipe for a disastrous lump of uncooked batter at the bottom of your pound cake. Mix just until combined, maybe 30 seconds. The end.

If your oven is like mine, you can probably expect to cook the cake for 70 minutes or more. 

Otherwise... yum!

SFO: 10