Rabbit Braised in Homemade Mead

The pictures describe this experiment well. I took a pound jar of local unpasteurized honey, added two times the amount of water and pitched in about 1/2 tsp of yeast (intended for beer). Waited two weeks and it became pleasantly effervescent. Filtered that. Nice and clear and only a hint of residual sweetness. Then browned some rabbit pieces in butter, added mushrooms and whole shallots, and braised it in the mead. A few pieces were eaten for dinner and the rest was taken off the bones and put in a container in the fridge wherein it solidified as an aspic. Bunny jello if you will. Luscious!

Sherry Raspberry Jello Blinz Recipe

Ingredients

2 tbs unflavored gelatin
2 c Hartley and Gibson Fino Sherry
1 tbs raspberry jelly without seeds
2 tbs cream cheese
2 tbs cottage cheese
4 tbs powdered sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
8 crushed amaretti
lemon zest

Bloom gelatin in 1/2 c sherry and add jelly. Bring remaining sherry to a boil and add to the mixture. Let cool, pour into two large teflon pans to create jello crepes. Mix cheeses and sugar and extract and spread on the jello. Carefully roll jello around cheeses and move toa  plate. Garnish with crushed amaretti and lemon zest.

Basil Seed and Rice Whiskey Jello

I must admit, this one scared even me. 

Saffron, Honey, Aqua Vitae, Lemon Zest Jello for Marsilio Ficino

Tako Jello

BTL in a Martini. Or BLTini.

Sometimes the world is strange and surprising. I posted this BLT in a Martini yesterday and shared it a few places. The number of responses on my page has been extraordinary, and over 500 shares weirdly, but why 1200 likes as of now in an aspic group? Has the algorithm changed? Are people paying attention to the nonsense I post? And why are there such violent protests of love and hate? Why would someone take the time to say how disgusting they think this is? It's just cured pork belly (bacon) lettuce and tomato set in a gin and vermouth gelatin with a touch of sugar. How could this be offensive? What weird chord has this struck?? The next book must be pitched now. The New Age of Aspics. Cecelia Watson says she will write it with me!

UPDATE: First time ever someone has stolen my image and passed it off as their own. And first time someone violently cursed at me because of my post. It was on my own personal page! What the hell was that idiot doing there in the first place. Obviously blocked. The numbers are still rising. 1500 shares??!! But still I have no idea why!

Another update. Not sure what going viral actually means, but over 3,200 shares the last I looked!

7-Up Cheese Aspic

Another Lesson in Culinary History. You may find an interesting recipe from the past, but that doesn't mean it's good. Case in point: this aspic from 1957. Disgusting.

Just thinking about it made me want to gag. But I made it. With Velveeta, which I've never used before. Ate a little and then gagged. (The onion sounds horrid, but you can't really taste it.)

But it occured to me that the idea was actually sound. Imagine a lime flavored cocktail nibbling on cheese and good olives. Now, if you weren't using lime flavored jello. And of course I added vodka. And real lime juice, just a touch of sugar to balance the acid. And then good cheese, a St. Andre Triple Cream. And now I totally get it. Garnished as directed. Delicious. And indeed, a salad. My guess is that the 7-Up people and Jell-O people took a perfectly fine recipe and tried to make it with their propriety ingredients and totally messed it up. There must be an original somewhere. Lesson learned: don't be afraid to make a terrible sounding recipe good - at least after you've followed the directions once.

Oh, directions: Squeeze the juice of a lime and a half or 1/4 cup. Add 1 1/2 packets unflavored gelatin. Heat 3/4 cup of vodka to boiling. Add that to gelatin. Pour into small molds (I used four very small ones) and drop in the celery, olives, cheese cubes. Then garnish with tomato and more cheese on a lettuce leaf. You could actually even add some salad dressing if you liked.