Kitchen Experiments

Once or twice a week, I will call Ed to dinner with the warning, "Tonight we are having an experiment." I like to try out new ideas when cooking - sometimes things I've read about in books, sometimes things I've made up. The deal is that Ed tells me honestly what he thinks of it, and if the experiment is a failure then anyone is free to make themselves a sandwich.

Last week I made chicken broth using a standard recipe: a bag of bones from the freezer, a few vegetables, lots of garlic. Anyone who has made chicken broth knows that after you have strained out the liquid you are left with bones and mushy meat and veggies. The bones I tossed out, but the mush I thought maybe could be saved. In meatloaf, perhaps? Worth a try! My meatloaf recipe calls for two pounds of meat, so I decided to use one pound of ground chuck and an equal amount of chicken mush. Bits of bone and grizzle in meatloaf did not sound appetizing, so I decided to strain the mush. After first trying a plastic colander, I used the metal steamer that fits into my saucepan. It took a lot of squishing, but eventually I got it all strained out. I added the now edible mush to the meatloaf and mixed everything up. I baked it in a loaf pan for the usual amount and it seemed to cook through... But remained in its former mushy state. We ate meatloaf for dinner that night, but had to scoop it rather than slice it, and no one has been motivated to consume the leftovers. Before I through them out though, I may try mixing it with some of the broth, and making a thick soup.

Last week I also made a batch of potato bread, and I had about a quarter of the dough left. I've read lots of places that you can make pizza out of potato bread dough, so I figured I'd give it a try. The dough wasn't really spreading on the pizza pan, so I put it into a square glass pan. I thought about making pizza sauce but did not have the energy, so I poured in some pasta sauce. It's almost the same thing, right? We had some leftover ham, so I cut that up for a topping. All that is left is the cheese, and fortunately we have a big bag of...oh. Moldy mozzarella. There was no saving that cheese, so I tossed it out, and threw the baking dish in the oven. When it was done it looked edible, so I put it on plates and served it up. I told Ed, "This is pizza," and I guess he believed me because he ate it. We ate the leftovers the next night too, instead of biscuits.

So of these two experiments - chicken stock mush meatloaf and cheese-less potato bread pizza - was either one a horrible failure? Not really. Neither one turned out the way I wanted them to, but I still had the fun of trying something new. The food turned out well enough that we didn't have to resort to sandwiches for dinner. I hate experimenting with expensive food, but when it is cheap food that you were thinking about throwing out anyway, why not?