How It Tasted
Broiled
Ham
These ham chunks couldn’t be called elegant, but the
taste was good and I didn’t hear any complaints (not even the standard line
from DH that ham is really a breakfast food).
One interesting note: despite all the trimming I did
the ham still contained a fair amount of fat, which in fact turned out to be a
blessing in disguise. Fat-free ham and stovetop cooking are not a match made in
heaven…the few bits I managed to de-fat before frying were dry as wood chips.
Hashed
Browns
Milomir:
Are these supposed to be so crunchy?
Heard a few moans about this dish—mainly that the
potatoes should be softer. Well, I guess mushy potatoes have become standard via
my many failed attempts to make hash brown. I never thought anyone could
develop such a preference, but apparently it’s happened!
Pickled
Beets
No one was quite as excited about these beets as I,
but my enthusiasm had an effect--between the three of us we managed to devour
quite a few. The charm of the dish (for me, anyway) is that pickled beets taste
exactly like pickled cucumbers minus the sodium. And, as beets are
beta-carotene powerhouses in the first place, this vegetable is a winner--especially
when fat-filled dishes like ham and fried potatoes are on the table.
Bread
and Butter
Oddly enough we collectively ate only a few slices of
bread and butter—I think because the rest of the dishes were more or less
successful (and filling). I strongly suspect there’s a link between bread
consumption and the success or failure of a meal as a whole: slap down a Bettina
dish that tastes bad and/or looks a bit strange, and bread consumption soars out
of sheer hunger.
Brown
Betty
Milomir:
Sweet!
Alas the absence of real vanilla and particularly
lemon extract came back to haunt me…without those this dish was unbearably
sweet and shot through with the taste of artificial flavoring.
With that in mind my choice of Gala apples rather than
a tart variety like Granny Smith was a major boo-boo as well. The dish really
needed a dash of sour—so much so that one of Bettina’s vinegary salad dressings
for once have been welcome!
Hard
Sauce
Filip:
Is it frosting?
This “sauce” was something of a mystery to my dining
companions—no one could make heads or tails of it, in fact.
Fortunately I was able to provide the appropriate cue
by spooning up a dollop and plunking it on my Brown Betty (and then almost
collapsing from sugar shock as I forked up the first bite). The already sweet
Betty was rendered almost inedible by the addition of this mixture of powdered
sugar and butter…no need to advise the troops, the look on my face as I
swallowed was warning enough!
Coffee
Nothing like a cuppa Joe for that crucial jolt of
energy—and to help erase the awful aftertaste of a much-too sugary dessert!
Would I Make This Again?
I would (it was easy for a Bettina meal, after all)
but with a few modifications:
1. Locate
a reliable source for uncooked ham and give up on those ridiculous ham shanks.
2. Give
up too on trying to produce the traditional crusty hash browns. I find it hard
to believe that anyone could prefer piles of (to me) soft, undercooked
potatoes, but DH and Son apparently do (saves me a lot of work, now that I
think about it).
3. Do I really need to say anything about the
Brown Betty? It was a reasonable dessert that unfortunately got derailed by an
act of carelessness on my part (not ensuring I had the proper ingredients
before I began). Really, the only change I need to make is to simply follow the
recipe—check, check, and check again to make sure I have everything I need
beforehand! (Important lesson learned--thanks Bettina!)
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