Overwatch Yums
Dec. 26th, 2020 02:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouseBy chance I read yhlee 's DW journal when he made a recipe from the Overwatch cookbook.
image: Official Overwatch cookbook
I instantly perked up because Mason LOVES Overwatch. Like, CRAZY loves. It's more than just a game he plays with friends. He obsessively follows the e-sport. In fact, when we visited Los Angeles andrachelmanija last year, we went to a live Overwatch competitive game. His social group is basically friends from an Overwatch Discord.
So, a cookbook? That seemed to have usable recipes?
I had to get it for him for the holidays.
Amazon didn't think it would arrive in time for actual Christmas day, but it did! On Christmas eve night, in fact, we tried Genji's (soy and chicken broth-based) ramen. SO GOOD. The picture is missing the soft-boiled egg because I FAILED soft-boiling three times.
Image: Homemade ramen sans softboiled egg (because I fail), but wildly delicious soy and mirin based sauce.
I made this with some chicken thighs I had in the freezer, even though the recipe calls for chicken breasts. The thighs were INSANELY good in this. I didn't actually miss the egg. I am also a loser who just used ramen noodles from the 35 cent packages.
The recipe asked for:
2 chicken breasts (I used thighs, about eight or however many were in the package)
1 tablespoon of butter
salt and pepper to taste
What Genji has you do is fry up the chicken just enough to crisp the skin and then pop it in the oven for a cook at 375 F for fifteen minutes or so. In the meantime, you simmer the broth, which is basically garlic, ginger, shallots, 2 tablespoons each of soy and mirin, and then about four cups of chicken stock. Ideally, you have some you've made yourself, but honestly it was pretty damn good with just canned chicken stock from the grocery store, which is what I used.
That all just simmers for the time it makes to make the chicken then, ideally, if you are not a loser like me, you manage to soft-boil an egg or two and then assemble everything once you've poured the broth over the noodles. I happened to have nori, but no shitake mushrooms, and honestly at this point in ramen, it's whatever toppings you like.
The recipe was so good, but so simple that we decided we would just start cooking our way through this cookbook. So, today, I made Sombra's conchas.
Image: cute little blue hatted concha on a vintage plate.
These are amazing.
I just inhaled three of them without stopping to breathe. So good. Holy crap.
The recipe is also really easy to follow. You basically make a sweet dough and then separately make this little hats, which are granulated sugar, vanilla and flour (and food coloring. The book suggests making three, so I made red, the blue you see, and purple.) I'll write it out for you, because I know everyone will want to try these.
Dough:
1 cup of warm whole milk
1/3 cup of unsalted butter or lard (<-- I used LARD. Always use lard in Mexican recipes if it is offered as an option.)
1/3 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons of active, dry yeast
pinch of salt
1 egg
3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
Topping:
1/4 cup of softened unsalted butter (I didn't have unsalted around. It doesn't seem to have made a huge difference.)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. (If you want to be authentic here, you could use Mexican vanilla. I didn't. I used to have it around thanks to my parent's trip to Mexico, and I will tell you even if I had had it, I might not have used it. I find the taste to be much STRONGER.)
1/2 cup all-purpose four
food coloring of your choice.
TO MAKE THE DOUGH:
When I do this I tend to heat the milk, sugar and lard together. Also because I am terrible at using a thermometer to make sure the milk isn't too hot for the yeast, what I do is put a cup of flour with the yeast mixed in in the mixer and then pour the milk mixture on top. Add the egg, and then add the remaining flour a bit at a time as the mixer is running. I have a fancy Cuisinart mixer that has a dough hook and I love using this for these kinds of soft, sweet, sticky dough. Once all the flour is incorporated, you hand knead just enough so that the dough springs back into place when pressed with a finger.
Return the dough to greased bowl (I used butter here) and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise for one hour, or until doubled.
TO MAKE THE TOPPING:
This is basically a sugar paste. Mix together butter, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Add a little flour at a time until you have a thick paste. Divide the paste into three equal parts and mix the in the food coloring to your liking. I will note that for me, a little extra flour was needed at this stage because the food colorings added liquid.
Roll out each ball of topping past to little under a quarter inch thick. Using a cookie cutter (I used a pastry cutter) or small glass, but out four founds about 1 1/2 to 2 inches across of each color. (I ended up with ten instead of twelve, so I just made ten buns instead of twelve.) Slide one disc at a time onto a spatula and gently score it with decorative shapes using the cookie cutter (I just used a knife?) being careful not to cut all the way through if you can. (This is important because they will separate more on the second rising!)
TO ASSEMBLE:
Preheat oven to 375 F
Once dough has doubled in size divide it into 12 equal parts (or ten or however many hats you ended up with). Gently fold the pieces of dough over and pinch together on the bottom of each bun to form a smooth ball. (Not sure why this direction is so careful, I tore off equal sizes and jammed them together to make round rolls and they were fine?) Set these on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, pinched side down, and brush tops with water.
Slide finished sugar paste round onto the top of moistened bun. Repeat until all the buns are covered. Let them rise for another 30 minutes.
Bake at 375 F for 15 to 18 minutes (I always split the difference and put them in for about 17) until the buns are just turning golden.
EAT THEM ALL
Image: multi-colored conchas on a pan
yhlee 's DW journal when he made a recipe from the Overwatch cookbook. image: Official Overwatch cookbook
I instantly perked up because Mason LOVES Overwatch. Like, CRAZY loves. It's more than just a game he plays with friends. He obsessively follows the e-sport. In fact, when we visited Los Angeles and
rachelmanija last year, we went to a live Overwatch competitive game. His social group is basically friends from an Overwatch Discord. So, a cookbook? That seemed to have usable recipes?
I had to get it for him for the holidays.
Amazon didn't think it would arrive in time for actual Christmas day, but it did! On Christmas eve night, in fact, we tried Genji's (soy and chicken broth-based) ramen. SO GOOD. The picture is missing the soft-boiled egg because I FAILED soft-boiling three times.
Image: Homemade ramen sans softboiled egg (because I fail), but wildly delicious soy and mirin based sauce.
I made this with some chicken thighs I had in the freezer, even though the recipe calls for chicken breasts. The thighs were INSANELY good in this. I didn't actually miss the egg. I am also a loser who just used ramen noodles from the 35 cent packages.
The recipe asked for:
2 chicken breasts (I used thighs, about eight or however many were in the package)
1 tablespoon of butter
salt and pepper to taste
What Genji has you do is fry up the chicken just enough to crisp the skin and then pop it in the oven for a cook at 375 F for fifteen minutes or so. In the meantime, you simmer the broth, which is basically garlic, ginger, shallots, 2 tablespoons each of soy and mirin, and then about four cups of chicken stock. Ideally, you have some you've made yourself, but honestly it was pretty damn good with just canned chicken stock from the grocery store, which is what I used.
That all just simmers for the time it makes to make the chicken then, ideally, if you are not a loser like me, you manage to soft-boil an egg or two and then assemble everything once you've poured the broth over the noodles. I happened to have nori, but no shitake mushrooms, and honestly at this point in ramen, it's whatever toppings you like.
The recipe was so good, but so simple that we decided we would just start cooking our way through this cookbook. So, today, I made Sombra's conchas.
Image: cute little blue hatted concha on a vintage plate.
These are amazing.
I just inhaled three of them without stopping to breathe. So good. Holy crap.
The recipe is also really easy to follow. You basically make a sweet dough and then separately make this little hats, which are granulated sugar, vanilla and flour (and food coloring. The book suggests making three, so I made red, the blue you see, and purple.) I'll write it out for you, because I know everyone will want to try these.
Dough:
1 cup of warm whole milk
1/3 cup of unsalted butter or lard (<-- I used LARD. Always use lard in Mexican recipes if it is offered as an option.)
1/3 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons of active, dry yeast
pinch of salt
1 egg
3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
Topping:
1/4 cup of softened unsalted butter (I didn't have unsalted around. It doesn't seem to have made a huge difference.)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. (If you want to be authentic here, you could use Mexican vanilla. I didn't. I used to have it around thanks to my parent's trip to Mexico, and I will tell you even if I had had it, I might not have used it. I find the taste to be much STRONGER.)
1/2 cup all-purpose four
food coloring of your choice.
TO MAKE THE DOUGH:
When I do this I tend to heat the milk, sugar and lard together. Also because I am terrible at using a thermometer to make sure the milk isn't too hot for the yeast, what I do is put a cup of flour with the yeast mixed in in the mixer and then pour the milk mixture on top. Add the egg, and then add the remaining flour a bit at a time as the mixer is running. I have a fancy Cuisinart mixer that has a dough hook and I love using this for these kinds of soft, sweet, sticky dough. Once all the flour is incorporated, you hand knead just enough so that the dough springs back into place when pressed with a finger.
Return the dough to greased bowl (I used butter here) and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise for one hour, or until doubled.
TO MAKE THE TOPPING:
This is basically a sugar paste. Mix together butter, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Add a little flour at a time until you have a thick paste. Divide the paste into three equal parts and mix the in the food coloring to your liking. I will note that for me, a little extra flour was needed at this stage because the food colorings added liquid.
Roll out each ball of topping past to little under a quarter inch thick. Using a cookie cutter (I used a pastry cutter) or small glass, but out four founds about 1 1/2 to 2 inches across of each color. (I ended up with ten instead of twelve, so I just made ten buns instead of twelve.) Slide one disc at a time onto a spatula and gently score it with decorative shapes using the cookie cutter (I just used a knife?) being careful not to cut all the way through if you can. (This is important because they will separate more on the second rising!)
TO ASSEMBLE:
Preheat oven to 375 F
Once dough has doubled in size divide it into 12 equal parts (or ten or however many hats you ended up with). Gently fold the pieces of dough over and pinch together on the bottom of each bun to form a smooth ball. (Not sure why this direction is so careful, I tore off equal sizes and jammed them together to make round rolls and they were fine?) Set these on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, pinched side down, and brush tops with water.
Slide finished sugar paste round onto the top of moistened bun. Repeat until all the buns are covered. Let them rise for another 30 minutes.
Bake at 375 F for 15 to 18 minutes (I always split the difference and put them in for about 17) until the buns are just turning golden.
EAT THEM ALL
Image: multi-colored conchas on a pan
no subject
Date: 2020-12-26 09:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-26 09:52 pm (UTC)I didn't want to reprint too many of them in a public forum because people should buy this cookbook!! (It's expensive, but Insight editions along with Roots of Peace, plant trees to replace the paper that is used in the production of each book.)
Plus I want to support Yoon's friend who was involved in the making of this.
BUT, I would totally scan and send you the page! Or type it out.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-26 10:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-26 10:44 pm (UTC)The scan should be in your inbox. Let me know if any part of it is illegible.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-27 01:15 am (UTC)