Can It, Bottle It, and Smoke It Book Review

Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It: And Other Kitchen Projects by Karen Solomon was sitting in the new book section at the library and it seemed to be calling my name.  I thought the title was funny and the pictures on the front were great.  I would love to haev that in my kitchen so I was ready to read!

I read it pretty quickly because it had big fonts.  The stories at the beginning of each chapter was really funny.  I liked reading them and getting to know the author more because I didn't read her first book (or even know about it so it was interesting).  In reading the recipes, I didn't find all of them up my alley.  I liked the idea of making cornflakes but I don't see that on the current list of things that I want to tackle.  I am still find buying them in the store with the quantity that we go through of cereal and how picky everyone is.  The bake it section was my favorite.  I would love to make bagels, english muffins, hamburger and hot dog buns, pizza dough, and cakes in a jar.  Of course, I have already found recipes that I love for two of those (pizza dough and buns).  I did like the stalk it section with recipes for corn tortillas because I have yet to be sucessful with those so I would like to try her recipe.  The judge of a good cookbook is if you find one recipe that you like so I would call this a sucess but I don't know that I would go run out and buy it.  Try it from the library and see if you are ready to make all of the stuff that she tries first :)

If you just want to start by making some corn tortillas from store bought masa harina, try this recipe.

2 cups masa harina

1 cup water

1/4 c vegetable oil, plus more for the pan

2 tsp kosher salt

In a mixing bowl, stir together the masa harina, water, oil and salt until dough forms.  Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

Measure 2 tbsp of dough and roll it into a ball between your wet hands.  Do with remaining dough and you should have about 12 balls.  Meanwhile, heat the griddle (cast iron if you have it) over medium high heat.

Working with 1 ball at a time.  Place between two sheets of parchment paper (wax paper will stick) and flatten with tortilla press or heavy skillet with twisting motion.  The dough will flatten into a pancake about 4 1/2 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick.  Lightly oil the hot pan.

Lift the tortilla in its paper from one side; let tortilla fall from the other sheet of paper into your hand.  If it breaks, just re-roll.  Lay it in the pan and cook on one side until the top bubbles and spots of brown char appear on the bottom, about 2 minutes.  Flip and cook the other side for a time, but don't crowd the pan.  Oil the pan as needed between batches.

Storage:  Can be refrigerated for 5 days or frozen for 6 months, wrap tight in plastic wrap and store in air tight container (like plastic bag).

I am totally going to try to make these soon!  I am going to have to find out the difference between this recipe and the one I tried but I know it sounds different.  I can't wait for successful tortillas and then tortilla chips!!  YUM :)  I hope that you check it out and see if there is a recipe that is calling your name.