Saturday, January 10, 2009

obscure references sure are cheezy

i've been testing recipes from jo stepaniak's book the ultimate uncheese cookbook. for those of you who don't know (and i suspect live in a cave) it is a bible of uncheez recipes for vegans, the lactose intolerant, or a combo of both.

i wish i could tell you i've liked everything i've tried. the recipe for the nacho cheez sauce on pg. 65 was NASTY and i made the following adjustments: add the juice of 1 lemon, 1T of frank's red hot instead of cayenne, up the nooch to 3/4 cup, and up the soy milk to 2 1/2 cups. that made the sauce PERFECT.

the most recent recipe i've made from the book is the buffalo mostarella (pg 163). pics are above and below. for shitz and giggles, i poured the cheez batter in an old fish mold i had lying around. while making this cheez, i couldn't help but to think of donny MOST (aka ralph malph) from happy days. i'm not sure if donny is a vegan, and i don't really care. so i've re-named the cheez Donny Most-arella. the results were mediocre but amusing, just like donny's acting career. it took to the mold quite well, and as the recipe states you'll need a wet or greased knife to cut the cheez (((guffaw))) because it's sticky. this is a very tangy, soft, powerful cheez. it doesn't melt well, and shouldn't be eaten alone. it reminded me of something more in the brie family that should be paired with fresh fruit and table water crackers.
since i didn't want to eat strong cheez all week, i cut up the fishloaf of donny and put him in the freezer. i'll make another post in the future to let you know how this cheez handles being frozen. prior to this experiment, i put it to the melting test and made a quesadilla shown below.
again, it doesn't melt well. maybe it would have if i had sliced it thinner. the tanginess complimented the beans, salsa, and soy sour cream quite nicely.

what recipes have you tried that weren't as great as you had hoped?

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