Hardtack is traditionally baked, then baked again at a lower temperature (200-250F or so) to get all the moisture out. The stuff that went on ships was baked four times, then aged a minimum of six months before going out on the ship.
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For when the inevitable glut of courgettes/marrows comes we will be making this
Itās very much like lemon curd except the base is marrow rather than eggs, which gives it a lighter texture and stores well even outside the fridge.
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I once found a carton of sea ration Marlboroās. Wax Carton. Had to have been 25 years old. I was around 25. Not food, but close! They were still actually kinda tasty. HARSH AS SALT though.
Wax can make an excellent seal. (to keep this on topic) 
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āSea rationā? Like, for the ocean or sumpinā?
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Iāve foundā¦well, manymanymany recipes from the newspaper in the house and garage since my momās death and before. More so since Iāve been cleaning up. I have shelves of cookbooks that were never used, to my knowledge. Hereās a fun sample of something from Pillsbury, which perhaps came inside a box of cake mix or something, judging by the folds:
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US Navy issue. They were sealed in wax, at least 3 dips. It was a standard thing for storage in ships, where the holds werenāt always so perfectly dry. 10 packs. Wish I hadnāt opened it, but I was a kid (23?), and it was cool, and now someone elseās are more valuable.
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Ah, I grew up hearing about āC-ratsā, my dad having served in WWII. One of those weird homonyms.
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Hereās the other side of the above leaflet; the top recipe looks delish, the otherā¦ewucghgghhg!!!
(But thatās just me.)
Iāve got collections, too, of Pillsbury Bake-Off Winning Recipes, if anyoneās interested.
As for baking, the last thing I made was ? were? whole-wheat milk-chocolate chip cookies. My baking is well-loved, and I like that. I like the whole thing about baking. Itās chemistry, itās fattening, it smells great!
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Iāve been stuck on breads for so long now.
I did learn a great bread trick. A little bit of cornstarch. It holds on to some water for you. Itās nice, I accidentally made mcdonalds hamburger buns the other day. I will write it down next time!
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I tried to make a hamburger with hot sauce cooked into it. It didnāt work the way I wanted it to, but the meat absorbed all the spicy vinegar flavor so it tasted like Chinese stir fry. Not bad, but not what I wanted. If I had to try it again, I would mix some gelatin and hot sauce together, refrigerate until firm, then put them inside stuffed burgers.
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Thatāsā¦kinda cute.
But that wonāt work; the gelatin will melt. And burn. And stink like burnt horsesā hooves, unless you use flavored gelatin, in which case it will smell like burnt-fruit-and-horsesā hooves.
Did you mix it in with the meat prior to cooking? Like, knead it in?
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Anyone have a good vegan mac n cheese recipe?
My nutrition doctor suggested it and I found a chickpea pasta that works pretty well for the nongrain diet Iām on.
He suggested nutritional yeast, so I made a version with sweet potatoes blended with nutritional yeast, some almond milk, part of an onion, and some spices. It was not like, wow, thatās going to give Kraft a run for the money, but it was promising.
Iāve been google-fuing up some stuff; the ones that sound the best, of course, have a lot of fat in them. Also verbotem. The one that seemed most promising was made with cashews and some truffle oil. I feel like maybe in moderation these could work.
Iām also open to the idea of a āsauceā that is not really cheesy per se.
I can always do a veggie + pasta thing but I think the sauce satisfies the urge for something remotely resembling comfort food, which is one of the main downfalls I have on this diet with low salt, no grains, no dairy - pretty much every single comfort food is off the list.
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Kenji at Serious Eats is my go-to for all things vegan and delicious. iām vegetarian, not vegan, but iāve made many of his vegan recipes and they are all just killer.
iāve been on a bread-baking kick for years now, and i think iām getting decent at it. if i could chuck everything and just make bread all day, iād do it.
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Yeah, but now you have a cool story whereas they just have an expensive pack of cigarettes.
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I mixed the hot sauce in with butter, refrigerated the butter, then cubed it and mixed it into the beef.
I thought of gelatin as an alternative to the butter because of American cheese. Itās doable, but I have to be careful to not burn the gelatin.
I could simply freeze the sauce, but that would be worse than the butter.
Maybe the butter was the correct approach, and I just did it wrong.
What you should try is just mixing the sauce into the meat. Are you using super-lean burger? Iām curious as to why youāre adding the butter.
If I knead the sauce directly into the meat, the meat absorbs it. Then it would most assuredly taste like Chinese stir fry. I tried the butter so it would melt and be liquid, but that doesnāt work either. I got the idea from vegan hamburgers that bleed.
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Ohhh, okay.
But it doesnāt taste like Chinese stir-fry, I can assure you of that.
I have to say, Iāve never heard of that particular method for flavoring hamburger. Are you cooking it in patty form or crumbled or what?
Iām wondering if the act of cooking the sauce in the burger is itself changing the flavour. The sauce isnāt necessarily heat-inert. Itās like how sesame oil will lose a lot of its distinctive flavour during cooking (although it can be nice to cook with anyhow.
Might dried/powdered spices work better?
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