Lava and technique

These past several days I have been watching the live streams of the erupting volcano in Iceland.  Those who know me know that I am fascinated by natural events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and especially volcanoes.  So to have live streams of multiple cameras on this amazing geological event is very enjoyable to me.  As I watch the lava flowing from the cinder cones and the recent fissures that have opened up, I think of the lava field brownies that I like to make.

I developed these brownies from another recipe that I liked in some ways but wanted to tweak.  In the process of tweaking it, I accidentally developed these  brownies that I named after lava fields.  Why that name?  As you can see in the picture above, they have an interesting texture that, at least to me, is reminiscent of lava fields.  Not only that, but when they are pulled out of the oven they are literally still boiling and seething on the surface and take a minute or two to calm down in the open air of the kitchen.  When they are removed from the oven, it seems they aren't done baking because of this -- but they are.   And afterwards, they have not only this wonderful looking texture but also a bit of a crunch on the top that might be the same crunch of brittle lava that is cooling as it spreads from a volcano into the surrounding area.

I remember the first time I pulled these from the oven with that seething surface.  I wasn't at all sure that I should remove them yet.  Surely they can't be done, I said to myself.  But I did it anyway, just to see what would happen.  And I was very happy that I did.

It's a fun thing to tweak recipes, trying new techniques in both the ingredient mixing  and the baking.  Someone once said to me, "Technique can't be that important.  It can't make that much of a difference, can it?"  The answer is yes.  I have all sorts of notes written on my recipes that specify how to mix something, whether or not to thaw a frozen ingredient (such as wild blueberries), whether to mix by hand or by mixer, how little to mix, how much to mix, precisely how much batter should be added (exactly 250 grams of banana bread batter per mini-loaf, for instance), which pans to cook in, whether to fold with a spatula and then do a final gentle whisk or not, and so on and so on.

All these little things can make a noticeable difference in the final product in taste, texture, and appearance.  And so that makes the techniques used very important, indeed.  At least to me.

Enjoy the spring weather everyone.  The rains have been abundant so far, and my fingers are crossed that it stays that way.  Spring flowers are already blooming.  My creeping thyme beds are already greening up incredibly well.  And the temperatures do not seem to be leaning towards hot temperatures of summer yet, so that hopefully means we will have a long and pleasant spring.  So make yourself some good food and enjoy the pleasant days.