Endlessly experimenting

I stayed up far too late last night, into the wee hours of the morning, watching Rick and Morty, after a relatively tolerable week of school. In terms of the cartoon, what a godforsaken wonderful mindfuck, and not only for you, the viewer, but also for the characters within. I'd call the show "enjoyably traumatic." I mean, poor Morty, the things his uncle does to him. Morty's moments of clarity are certainly the highlights of Season 1 (e.g. **spoiler** the episode in which Rick destroys the world and then upon realization that he's fucked up irreversibly, drags Morty across dimensions into an alternate universe in which they can replace their recently deceased selves..ummm what?). I find the more I watch of Morty, the more I identify with him. It's one of those television shows that, at first, grosses you out a bit, but the farther and farther to fall into its depths, the more hilarious and ridiculous and real it becomes. By 5 AM, though it might have been delirium, I had begun to see my dental school life in the episodes, at least parallels between all the ridiculousness. Anyway, I'd highly recommend it to you if you enjoy adultswim type cartoons that don't just capitalize on blatant, vulgar absurdity (e.g. Family Guy). 

In terms of school though, before I forget, I have to tell you what fixed prosthodontics actually is. Fixed prosth it's a dental field which focuses on making prosthesic devices to fit into your mouth permanently (non-removable) and to fix both functionality and aesthetics. Of course, you probably could've figured out that definition on your own, but well, I'm just coming back here to fulfill my previous offer. So far, the subject matter is more interesting than general restorative dentistry (though obviously, they all build on each other). Fixed prosth is actually kind of interesting, in a weirdly, distant, I'm-being-forced-to-do-it way. Moreover, as someone who can be obsessive compulsive about some of the most useless aesthetic details, but is otherwise very broad brush about life in general, I think the execution of the fixed prosth laboratory projects might actually drive me insane. I'm looking forward to it- - - nothing like inviting my ol' friend Mashochism to come sit on my shoulder again. Time to experiment.

That's probably enough about school. Let's move onto some food. Though I've been in the kitchen a lot this week, experimenting and gathering new recipes. I haven't quite figured out how the lighting works in my new apartment - - - all the photos I've recently taken have a saturated, unpleasant, yellow tint to them. While my new apartment is quite nice, it unfortunately lacks bright natural light. I'll just need some time to figure out how to make such small things work (e.g. will my succulents be able to survive in this dark apartment? Stay tuned), simulate some different scenarios, etcetera, etcetera.

So, instead of recipes from this week, here's a recipe for some soft, chewy caramels I made over the summer in Baltimore. Not the wisest idea to make sticky caramels in the humid, hot summer of Baltimore, but, I needed to get out some energy. Nothing gets out energy like staring at deathly hot boiling sugar and trying to decide wheher ot not it's "golden brown" enough - - - ahhh, living on the edge, full of adrenaline. As with all candy-making, watch the sugar carefully (if you have a candy thermometer, you can use that). I do not have a candy thermometer, so my method follows the traditional advice route: watch the color carefully and drop a small ball of the hot caramel into cold water - - - once it hardens in the water to your desired consistency, pull off the heat and pour into a mold. 

These caramels are a little different, so as not to entirely bore you. I had an excess of cranberry lime curd leftover, so I mixed it into the liquid portion of the recipe. As a result of the curd, the caramels are a bit stickier than usual, which while makes this recipe kind of a bitch to work with in the heat, but does provide some candies with delicious tang. I'll have to try making these in colder weather. Just can't get rid of the scientist in me, is all.

Sticky Curd Caramels
makes ~150 caramels

2 C granulated sugar
1/2 C dark corn syrup
1/2 C water
1 C heavy cream
1 C cranberry and key lime curd*
5 TB unsalted butter, softened

Note: feel free to use lemon curd or any other curd of choice, or just use 2 C heavy cream

Line a baking pan with buttered parchment paper. (the dimensions of the pan are your choice, depending on how thick you want your caramels, but make sure is at least 8 x 8 inches). Whisk together the heavy cream, 2 TB butter, and curd in a bowl until a smooth, thick liquid is formed. Microwave or heat as necessary. Then set aside for later use.

In a large pot, mix together the sugar, corn syrup, and water. Heat until all the sugar is melted and bring to a "simmer" (the liquid with bubble). DO NOT stir but do swirl occasionally. I recommend doing this in a stainless steel pan (not a non-stick black one) because you will need to watch the color. Once the mixture turns to a golden, blonde color, grab the cream mixture. .

Carefully pour the cream mixture into the sugar whil stirring quickly - it will splatter so be careful to protect your arms. Mix until an even sauce is formed. Then mix in, 1 TB at a time, the remaning butter. Continue simmering, stirring very often to prevent burning, until the color is slightly darker. Then, drop a spoon of the mixture into a cup of cool water and see whether or not it forms a lump. If it doesn't form a cohesive lump, continue simmering and stirring. If it does, test the lump and see it is your desired texture. Once the lump is your desired texture, remove the pan from the heat and pour the caramel into the baking pan to cool. Do not scrape! You'll disturb the molecule structure and smooth sheen. Look at that sheeeeeen.

Let the caramel cool completely at room temperature in the pan. Then, you can either cut it into squares or, if you let the mixture softer/stickier like me, cut the caramel sheet into strips and make little pretty caramel rolls (see first image). Wrap the caramels in wax paper and store in a cool dry place until ready to eat.