How It Tasted
Pork
Chops
These chops looked beautiful on the plate: nicely
browned and simply bursting with porky goodness.
Unfortunately I didn’t much care for them. No question
they were cooked thoroughly, but I prefer pork that’s shredded, falling-off-the-bones
tender, and (when possible) doused with barbeque sauce.
Still, my husband and son seemed to like these, and I
must admit they had a nice flavor. In fact, DH was annoyed that, after the
meal, the chops went straight into the meat grinder for the next day’s
croquettes—he’d planned to have one later as an evening snack!
Potatoes
Maître d’Hotel Butter
These turned out to be excellent—the butter sauce
really did a lot for them. My dining companions enjoyed them too, and by the
end of the meal there were none left in the bowl.
Bread
and Butter
This met with a collective *eh* from the family, and
the fact that the bread was less than fresh didn’t help matters any.
Broccoli,
Miami Style
Filip:
I can hardly taste the broccoli!
I too noticed this odd phenomena: a broccoli casserole
that tasted nothing at all like broccoli. The sauce, cheese, and
cracker crumbs so predominated that the broccoli almost seemed like an
afterthought, a garnish--like that sprinkle of parsley on the potatoes.
In fact, this recipe made eating broccoli such a
pleasure it almost seemed like cheating, like dumping raw egg into a milkshake
or dosing a glass of OJ with castor oil.
Cabbage
Salad Served In Lemon Halves
Milomir:
You put cabbage in these lemon skins?
Both Husband and Son seemed a little taken aback by
the sight of this dish. Cabbage salad is common enough on our table, but I’ve
never once served it in lemon halves (and, judging by the reaction, probably
never will again).
Taste-wise the salad was fine, and I enjoyed the hint
of lemon added by the fruit cups. DH and Son though were definitely not
impressed. They both toyed with their salads and, despite a fair amount of
coaxing, I couldn’t get them to finish.
Coconut
Blanc Mange
I was surprised by the taste of this dish—it was
remarkably un-sweet even though the recipe called for sugar and grated coconut
besides. I suppose I was expecting something super-rich like coconut cream pie
filling, and this certainly wasn’t it. If I didn’t know better I’d swear this
dessert was healthy—as healthy as
anything coming out of Bettina’s kitchen gets, anyway.
Custard
Sauce
Well, Bettina’s version is definitely NOT Ma’s Home
Cooking. My husband dutifully spooned some over his blanc mange, but I could
tell by the slow action of his spoon that he really didn’t care for it.
Filip, on the other hand, lapped his up and I even
emptied the dregs from the serving dish onto his plate. I myself thought it was
good (maybe not quite that good) but not the best topping for coconut pudding.
Fruit (raw or cooked) would have made a much better base.
Iced
Tea
No one seemed to be in the mood for iced tea—no doubt
because our coastal city was blanketed with fog. Milomir wanted coffee, Filip
milk, and that beautiful pitcher of tea ended up going down the drain!
Would I Make This Again?
I definitely got mixed signals from the family
regarding this meal. Everyone but me liked the pork, DH and Son were
disconcerted by the look of the salad, and no one really enjoyed the dessert
(although Filip definitely gave a thumbs’ up on the custard sauce).
So yes, I probably would prepare this meal again but
with a few modifications. I’d choose thinner chops, ditch the lemon cups
cradling the salad, and serve the custard sauce over slices of fruit or cake
(or perhaps fruit and cake).
But the iced tea—nyet!
Everyone is tired of Bettina’s favorite summertime refresher, and on this
foggy California coast no iced drink is really met with handclapping. It
bothered to see almost a whole pitcher of tea go to waste, but I really
couldn’t blame anyone…after just a cup I got so chilled I had to put on a sweater.
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