133. Mustard Sauce with Vermouth and Thyme

Date Cooked: April 4, 2010
Page: 479
Rating: B+

Wow, I made this sauce with the ham back at the beginning of April. Time is flying by and I am not giving this blog the attention I once used to. Lives change and the logistics of having a third child do make time more precious. But before I can embark on newer recipes I guess I should finish up the posts on these older ones.

When I had made the decision to have Ham for Easter I needed an accompanying sauce to go with it. We had a traditional brown sugar and maple glaze (that came with it) but I wanted something less processed. I personally like mustard based sauces so I was all over this one.

Shallots were softened in butter before vermouth and sugar were added. This was reduced slightly to allow the alcohol to cook off before a mixture of cornstarch and chicken stock were added. The sauce was simmered in order to thicken it, and once done, some Dijon and grainy mustard and thyme were introduced.

I served this alongside the ham.

Rating: B+. I liked this sauce a lot more that the sugar syrup that came with the ham. The flavor helped offset the saltiness of the ham and added real dimension to the meat. My oldest son liked it as well which was a nice surprise.

129. Asian Spice Paste for Chicken

Date Cooked: March 16, 2010
Page: 610
Rating: B

First off I didn’t snap a picture of this paste. It was a component and I didn’t even think about getting out the camera until the dinner was ready. I’ll try to describe it for you. Imagine pesto. Okay done. Making this paste was simple. Let’s see, I had extra virgin olive oil, cilantro, soy sauce, minced jalapeño, minced ginger, minced garlic and probably some other stuff. I threw everything together and then used my immersion blender to help the ingredients form a harmonious society. The cilantro was definitely the king of this society, both in color and smell.

Rating: B. As with most marinades, rubs, and pastes that are intended to be used before cooking they are hard to rate by themselves. The best I can do is say that it was not offensive in smell and was easy to prepare. How it benefited the chicken I will describe in my next post.

122. Classic Red Wine Pan Sauce

Date Cooked: January 10, 2010
Page: 390
Rating: C

After making so bold a statement that I was going to cook more, over a week had elapsed before I got myself back into the kitchen with the book. As is usual in our house the question of what’s for dinner is always being asked. Since it was Sunday though, I had ample time to figure out what we should have and then make sure I had the ingredients. As is pretty typical around my house, we had very little fresh produce but lots of frozen meat.

We decided that some steaks with a pan sauce would be nice. This Classic Red Wine Pan Sauce fit the bill. I had already cooked the Pan-Seared Strip Steaks from the book and mangled my attempt at the Shallot-Butter Pan Sauce then, so I figured I would try my luck at a different pan sauce. The first step in this pan sauce is actually a red wine reduction. In a skillet I simmered red wine with minced shallots, carrots and mushrooms along with some parsley and a bay leaf. After 15 minutes the liquid was strained and then greatly reduced. While the sauce was reducing I cooked the steaks.

Once the steaks were done the fun began. I would like to qualify the following story with the fact I was also trying to balance the completion of two other recipes from the book. All fighting for a spot on the stovetop and cooking relatively quickly. I added some shallots to the pan and quickly realized that the pan was still very hot. I scrambled to deglaze the pan with equal parts chicken broth and beef broth before the shallots burnt to a crisp. In my mind I was envisioning the Shallot-Butter Pan Sauce all over again. Of course the pan was so hot the broth immediately sizzled and evaporated in a cloud of steam. Within minutes though all seemed to calm down. I allowed this to simmer for a bit before adding in the red wine reduction, the juices from the resting steaks and some fresh chopped thyme. This sauce was very dark and only a portion of this coloring was due to the reduced red wine. This was then served over the steaks.

Rating: C. I definitely need to work on pan temperature and I definitely need a larger stainless steel or cast iron skillet, instead of the non-stick one I am using. The steaks cooked too quickly and the pan was so hot that the fond was not composed of flavorful browned bits but blackened charcoal. This gave the sauce a burnt flavor. You could taste the fact that the sauce wanted to be good but it was still “burnt”. The subtle flavor of the wine and thyme were fighting for recognition while any other flavor was buried under the charcoal. I have one pan sauce left in the book so we will see what I can do but I am feeling that pan-seared food and sauces are beating me.

118. Garlic, Lemon, and Rosemary Rub

Date Cooked: November 30, 2009
Page: 327
Rating: B-

This was a component for some simple broiled chicken that we decided to have. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture prior to using this rub on the chicken so the picture is of the chicken. As with most rubs this one was rather simple to put together. I started with some cloves of garlic mauled by a garlic press. Into this I added some lemon zest and some freshly minced rosemary from my rosemary plant which is still growing strong on my front porch, even though we don’t water it and the temperatures have started dropping below freezing at night. I might need to bring it in next to my basil plant soon. Lastly some ground black pepper was added. This rub was spread under the skin of the chicken breasts before cooking. When the chicken was almost done cooking a mixture of oil and lemon juice was added.

Rating: B-. It’s hard to rate something like this since it is not meant to be eaten on its own. But I was not a fan of the taste it imparted to the chicken. The rosemary was definitely dominant. I would imagine this could be better with less rosemary and more garlic.

111. Giblet Pan Gravy

Date Cooked: October 12, 2009
Page: 364
Rating: B-

When I was but a wee lad growing up I detested gravy. You couldn’t put it anywhere near my plate. Then I of course grew up and after realizing how many dry mashed potatoes and dried white turkey could have been saved with gravy I accepted it. And then I turned acceptance into a full out love of gravy. It would not be uncommon for me to add more gravy than food it was to cover. A Thanksgiving dinner would be turned into a quasi stew as I ladled on the gravy.

Speaking of gravy I remember the first time I had gravy at my in-laws. They commonly use vinegar gravy, something I had up until that point never had before. I, in my usual excess gravy fashion ladled this all over my dinner. Had my first bite and it immediately became clear to everyone that something was amiss. I tried to hide my surprise at the unexpected flavor but they noticed and they laughed. Every time I eat dinner there I am always sure to check the gravy before pouring it over my food.

I’ve never made gravy before. That’s right, for all of my love of gravy I have never made it myself, so I had high hopes for this gravy, simply because it was gravy. Making gravy requires three stages. At least this recipe did but I imagine most authenticate gravies are made in a similar fashion.

Stage one starts out with the giblets and turkey neck being sauteed. After a few minutes I threw in some onions and once nicely browned I covered everything and let it cook on low for about 20 minutes. After that I added some stock, water and herbs (thyme and parsley) and brought it to a boil before simmering uncovered for 30 minutes. It is a good thing that I did this stage in the morning. Once cooked, I strained everything through a fine mesh strainer and set the gravy stock aside. The giblets and turkey neck were to be reserved for later use but I did not like the idea of re-adding the meat to the gravy (and neither did my wife), so in a rare moment of deviation, I omitted it. That being said my dog feasted on the gizzards (minus the heart which I ate… not very good after being cooked for 50 minutes) and shredded turkey meat.

Stage two thickens the gravy and gets completed close to the end of the turkey’s roasting time. In this stage a roux of butter and flour is made and then most of the gravy stock is whisked into it and then simmered until it thickens.

Stage three is the final stage and uses the drippings from the turkey pan to complete. The roasting pan is set over two burners and then using white wine and some reserved gravy stock the whole thing is simmered until the liquid is reduced by half. The liquid is strained and then defatted. Once done it gets whisked into the thickened gravy from stage two. Gravy complete.

Rating: B-. It was good gravy. I loved it as much as I like all gravy. But it did not blow me away. I expected something almost magical but it tasted almost the same as packaged gravy, but most likely much better for me. I guess I am trying to say the work was not really worth the result. I spent a lot of time making the gravy which could have been used doing something else. If it was something that could be made in less than 30 minutes with minimal effort I would absolutely make this more often. But until then it will be a special occasion recipe.

99. Pantry Spice Rub for Chicken

Date Cooked: September 12, 2009
Page: 610
Rating: B

I decided to do some chicken on the grill and figured I might as well try one of the rubs from the book to go with it. I’ll confess, I was a plain food eater for a long time and I was fine with it. Still am. I would eat plain pork chops, plain chicken, plain beef. The only seasoning would be salt and pepper and something at the table from a bottle. I am beginning to realize I have been missing out on an entire world of flavor!

This rub was as simple as mixing several different spices and seasonings together in a bowl. We have cumin, allspice, curry powder, cinnamon, black pepper, and chili powder. Not the most challenging recipe but only recently have I begun keeping fresh spices in the house. I used to have just the basics and some others that were probably several years old. The Bulk Barn has helped me keep smaller quantities on hand so they don’t sit around for years.

This rub was applied to brined and dried chicken before the chicken hit the grill. When I say applied, I mean I practically encrusted the chicken using all of the rub. Even though this post is about the Pantry Spice Rub, let’s discuss the grilling. Chicken drips a lot of fat and that fat likes to burn. I placed the seasoned chicken thighs on the grill and closed the lid. I was supposed to sear each side for 1-2 minutes before allowing it to cook through on the cooler side of the grill. Well when I opened the lid I had flames licking out from all over. It was a mini bonfire in my grill! I struggled to remove the chicken without burning my hands and was only marginally successful. So for the rest of the cooking time I need to constantly spray water to keep the flames down while the chicken cooked.

In the end the chicken looked like this:

Rating: B. Despite the look of the chicken the flavor of the spice rub was very dominant and did not taste really burnt. What I did notice was that the skin retained a lot of the salt from the brine. The rub was good and while I may not necessarily make this one again I will definitely look for others to use.

97. Asian Wet Rub

Date Cooked: August 22, 2009
Page: 587
Rating: B

I made this wet rub for some pork tenderloin I was going to grill. I have been working hard through the grilling section of the book this summer and I am loving it. The new grill helps. I figured if I was going to grill some pork tenderloin I might as well utilize one of the rub recipes in the book also. Two recipes in one is an efficient way to cook through the book I believe. I am always looking for shortcuts to accomplish a task. Some will call it efficiency, others call it laziness. But enough about my personal work ethic and on to the recipe!

So some garlic, scallions and ginger were minced and then mixed with light brown sugar, hoisin sauce, toasted sesame oil, salt and some red pepper flakes. The rub was left for an hour to let the flavors do some socializing and then it was ready for use.

Rating: B. It was a pretty tasty rub for the pork. Nothing that blew my mind but it definitely beat plain pork tenderloin (which can be fantastic anyway). The rub lent a nice sweet heat to the pork.

92. Lemon, Garlic, and Parsley Butter

Date Cooked: August 6, 2009
Page: 563
Rating: B

I felt like I need to have something with the steak. Ok, I really just wanted to knock off another recipe from the book and I didn’t have any fresh vegetables on hand to grill. I liked the idea of adding butter to steak and there were a couple compound butters in the book. It just so happens that I needed to use up some parsley and I had all the ingredients for this particular recipe.

I added lemon zest, garlic, minced parsley, salt and pepper to some softened butter. Whipped it with a fork until combined and then doled out a little on the steak. By the time I was sitting down to eat it had started to melt nicely.

Rating: B. It was a pretty good butter. I really don’t have much to say about it. The garlic dominated the flavor profile and while I like garlic I was hoping for something more. Didn’t ruin the steak which is good I guess!

81. Spicy Caribbean-Style Cocktail Sauce

Date Cooked: May 10, 2009
Page: 21
Rating: A-

Okay this one should have been posted well over a month ago. We’re talking about a sauce that was made for some tough as rubber poached-shrimp I made. Well better late than never I guess.

As with most sauces they are rather simple to put together. I was a little perplexed when I started this sauce because it seemed light on wet ingredients. Basically I needed to mince scallions, peppers, ginger and garlic and mix them with some lime juice and brown sugar. After mincing for several minutes I figured why not give it a few pulses with the immersion blender. It is the one tool in my kitchen that I unfortunately under-appreciate. A quick whirl and the sauce looked great (and smelled great too!)

Rating: A-. This was one tasty sauce. When I had gone through the ingredient list I wasn’t sure what to expect but the final result was delicious! An excellent mix of sweet and heat. Although I do confess that in a grocery store mix up I grab a rather mild pepper instead of the jalapeño required. So after the initial tasting a little hot sauce was added to spice it up a little.

80. Classic Cocktail Sauce

Date Cooked: May 10, 2009
Page: 21
Rating: B

I prepared this sauce to go with the herb-poached shrimp from the last post. The sauce was painfully simple to make. Pretty much all I had to do was mix the ingredients together. My biggest issue was that fact that I really had to struggle to get the last bit of ketchup out of the bottle to make this recipe. My son was a little upset that we were now out of ketchup. Mixed into the ketchup was horseradish, salt and pepper, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and chili powder. After tasting the sauce I deviated a little and threw in some more chili powder and a liberal splash of hot sauce.

The picture pretty much looks like a bowl of ketchup.

Rating: B. The sauce was not bad but definitely tasted like spicy ketchup. I’m not a big fan of ketchup which is why I added even more heat to it. Was a good accompaniment to the shrimp though.

72. Chipotle Butter with Lime and Cilantro

Date Cooked: February 14, 2009
Page: 506
Rating: B

This was another condiment to serve with a main dish. This time the dish was going to be a fish one. I am becoming a slow convert to flavored butters and I am realizing that a simple preparation of food can be easily enhanced with a fancy condiment.

This butter was a quick mix of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce mixed with lime zest and some minced cilantro. This was my first time ever using chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and I thought I would like them. Apparently there is something about the smell that made me a little queasy… I was really concerned at first since I didn’t want to ruin perfectly expensive fish but my wife and mother-in-law both agreed it smelled fine and was actually rather nice. Seems it isn’t for me, which is sad because it’s used in several recipes in the book.

The one thing I loved about this butter though was how it melts nicely on the fish. Something very appealing about a small dollop of butter melting on hot food.

Rating: B. The way the chipotle peppers unnerved my senses is why the rating is just a B. Could have been higher without this feeling it instilled in me.

70. Shallot-Butter Pan Sauce

Date Cooked: February 14, 2009
Page: 391
Rating: B

Really quick confession. The picture is not of the product served and does not reflect the rating I gave. The above picture was of attempt one. This was a pan sauce I made for pan-seared steaks and it didn’t go as expected.

Once the steaks were done I had to cook the shallots in the same pan. Well things were hectic on this day and the pan was a little hot (it was used for searing steaks) and the recipe indicated to remove it from the heat and then cook the shallots over low heat. Well let’s just say it’s possible that I may not have turned the heat to low and immediately upon removing the steaks dumped in the shallots. They crisped up in less than 30 seconds, the pan was still a little warm. I proceeded anyway and threw in the butter which browned up nice and quick followed by lemon juice and parsley. Yes, there is fresh parsley in that sauce. You don’t have to taste it to know it was garbage.

Well I had spent a fair dollar on these steaks and I was not going to ruin them with the burnt trash I had created so I quickly minced a few more shallots and proceeded to create the pan sauce again at a lower temperature. The only problem with round two is that I didn’t have any of the browned bits left in the pan from searing the steaks. But considering the alternatives of incinerator residue or no sauce I felt this second attempt wasn’t too bad at all.

Rating: Depends on if I rate round one or two. F or B. The sauce was a nice accompaniment to the steaks but since I am a person that always orders a steak with a strong sauce (peppercorn, blue-cheese peppercorn, etc.) it was a little mild for me.

** You'll see the finished sauce in the next post

61. Piquant Caper Sauce

Date Cooked: January 25, 2009
Page: 496
Rating: A-

This was the second of two sauces I had prepared for a Roast Leg of Lamb. This caper sauce was pretty much gravy with a bit of bite. The sauce required some work to make and relied heavily on the Roast Lamb for preparation.

The first step in this process was to sauté the leg bones from the roast. I’ll go into agonizing detail of how I retrieved these bones in my next post but for now let’s just say that my OCD tendencies really helped out. The bones sautéed for a bit (and I should have used a larger pan) before I added in the beef stock and let the whole thing simmer for an hour.

Once the roast leg of lamb was done in the oven I was able to complete the remainder of the sauce. The roasting pan was deglazed with some white wine before the deglazed liquid and the lamb stock were strained into a measuring cup. This strained and skimmed of fat liquid was then put back into the saucepan and brought to a boil. A butter flour paste was added to thicken the sauce along with the capers, vinegar and accumulated roast juices. The flavors spent a few minutes getting to know each other until it was ready to serve with the roast.

Rating: A-. Between the Mint Sauce and this one, the lamb had some great accompaniment. I liked this sauce a lot and ate more of this one than the Mint sauce. I think since it went so well on the polenta it was a nicer overall member of the dinner. Obviously the creation of this sauce ties in heavily with the roasting of the lamb. But next time I do a lamb roast I will definitely make this sauce to go with it.

60. Mint Sauce

Date Cooked: January 25, 2009
Page: 496
Rating: A

This was one of two sauces created for a roast leg of lamb that I had cooked for a Sunday dinner. This sauce was amazing! It tops any gross mint jelly or other mint concoction I’ve ever been served with lamb. To be honest I was never a fan of mint and lamb until this sauce came along.

The sauce is easy to prepare. White wine vinegar and sugar were reduced and then fresh minced mint was added. Simple and totally delicious! With so few ingredients though, the quality of the vinegar and freshness of the mint matter.

Rating: A. I might make this for all kinds of dishes! It was tangy and carried the mint flavor without being overpowering to the lamb.

51. Chunky Guacamole

Dated Cooked: January 9, 2009
Page: 26
Rating: B

Guacamole, my wife loves avocados and while I don’t dislike them they have never held the same place in my heart as they do in hers. We both enjoy guacamole but my wife is a real connoisseur. So I prepared this recipe knowing I was trying to impress her taste buds. Did I succeed? Let’s find out.

The recipe is a rather straightforward concoction. Three medium ripe avocados are used. The first one gets mashed up into a paste and mixed with the rest of the ingredients which includes such delightful items such as onions, garlic, jalapeno peppers and cilantro. I have come to the conclusion that I LOVE cilantro. A few years back my wife made some appetizers that prominently feature cilantro. I was overwhelmed by the taste and immediately confused the overwhelmed feeling with a dislike of them. Now a few years later I look forward to any recipe that uses cilantro. I can’t really imagine how I ever made it that far in life without having tried cilantro.

Anyway… The recipe says chunky guacamole but I encountered a problem the second I cut into the avocado. Ripeness. These avocados were not really rock solid but I’m sure if one of these was thrown at someone’s head they would be nursing a rather large bruise after they awoke from their avocado induced slumber. Mashing was becoming an issue so I gave up and took out the food processor. I was also lazy so instead of cutting the remaining two avocados into small cubes I just tossed them in the food processor for a few pulses.

Rating: B. With the help of the food processor the final result was tasty and not to chunky. That being said the ripeness of the avocados affected the taste. The flavor just wasn’t full-bodied? Vibrant? I’m struggling to describe it… something was missing. If the flavors were painting my tongue they just kept missing a spot and no matter how much I ate that spot was not being reached. It was still good though and my wife liked it, so I will make it again, but next time I will ensure that the avocados have time to ripen.

14. Lime-Cilantro Butter

Date Cooked: September 7th, 2008
Page: 156
Rating: B-

We were having what is seeming to be a traditional Sunday feast and we were going to be putting some corn on the grill (next post). I quickly skimmed through the book to see what I could add to the menu and realized there were several compound butter recipes alongside the corn entries. I figured sounds like a good plan! This was extremely simple to put together that I am sure I could train a monkey to do it. Of course finding the monkey would be the hard part so maybe I can get my son more involved by training him. He’ll be proud to know he beat out a monkey for my sous-chef position. The recipe is simply some finely chopped cilantro, lime zest and juice and a bit of cayenne pepper folded into softened butter. But for all its simplicity it did raise a few questions.

I froze my cilantro to cryogenically extend it ‘freshness’. Freezing some herbs is worthless. I have frozen Basil and mint and they work great (more durable leaves). The cilantro just thawed into a wilted soggy lump. It was grossly unappealing. Still smelled and tasted fine though.

The ‘Best’ book practically denies the existence of salted butter. I’m slowly coming around to unsalted butter for baking and cooking but as an actual condiment salted is the way to go. Unsalted butter is pretty flavorless and I found myself using more salt on my corn than I would normally use. After all these many years of loving butter I realize it is the glorious marriage of salt and butter that I love. So now I will be stocking both in my fridge.

Rating: I think I may start rating the recipes. Or I guess more accurately, rating my ability to deliver a palatable product that I enjoyed eating. This dish gets a B-. It could have been higher if I had used salted butter and fresh (not frozen) cilantro.

08. Creamy Garlic Vinaigrette

Date Cooked: August 31, 2008
Recipe: 8
Page: 83

Ok, Ok… I can hear the groans now and those few readers I have are probably already trying to click to some other blog. But I have an excuse. We were on vacation and I didn’t feel like going grocery shopping so we used what we had in the house, which meant the last of the salad greens before they began to wilt into a slimy mess.

Salad dressings and vinaigrettes are quick and easy to make so they were perfect candidates for fulfilling my cook-through project while under time constraints and limited fresh items. The vinaigrette recipe suggested using a jar to mix the ingredients in. I was trying to remember where I had stored the mason jars we bought several months ago, when we thought we would try to make preserves (yeah that never quite happened), when I remembered I had a single jar in the cupboard that was from some gift basket thing and since I am a pack rat of sorts I washed it thinking it could one day be useful. That was an absolutely atrocious sentence. I apologize for anyone that needed to waste time trying to read through that more than once. Anyway, the jar, so I filled it with the simple list of ingredients (garlic, oil, sour cream, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and vinegar), gave it a vigorous shake and was done.

My wife loved this vinaigrette and I am told I will be making it more often.

06. Blue Cheese Dressing

Date Cooked: August 28, 2008
Recipe: 6
Page: 80

It was this dressing that prompted the torture of manually whisking oil and egg into mayonnaise. I felt like a salad since we were leaving for small vacation for the labour day weekend and I didn’t want to come home to a fridge full of less than fresh leftovers. A simple salad was my choice and I felt that throwing together a homemade dressing for it would be nice. With some blue cheese sitting in the fridge I felt this was an opportune time to utilize the ‘Best’ book. It had a simple blue cheese dressing recipe so I dove in… only to realize I was out of mayonnaise. So I figured I could just make my own (see previous post). I’ll be sure to stock my fridge better in the future.

Nothing could be easier than mashing the buttermilk and blue cheese together and then mixing in the rest of the ingredients. At first when I tasted the dressing I was a little concerned. The blue cheese was muted and overall I wasn’t too enthusiastic. I covered it and put it in the fridge for about an hour as we finished a few other things around the house. When it was time to eat I was really excited about the dressing… that was until I took my first bite! While resting in the fridge the flavors had a chance to meld and the sharp flavor of the blue cheese came through bold but without over-powering the dressing. It was delicious!

Reflecting back on this dressing I will definitely make it again the next time I have some blue cheese. I’m not sure the worth of homemade mayonnaise in it but next time I make it I’ll see if off the shelf mayonnaise impacts the flavor.

The Next Day
Well technically this was a few days later but I still had a little bit left over so I threw a quick salad together to finish it off. This dressing just kept getting better with age!

05. Mayonnaise

Date Cooked: August 28, 2008
Recipe: 5
Page: 76

There were a few reasons why I decided to torture myself today. I say torture because I can’t think of too many other ways to describe the process of making mayonnaise by hand. The first reason is that I am going to be away for a few days and I didn’t want to do anything that would leave me with a ton of leftovers. The second reason is that I want to start eating more salads so I have been looking though the salads section of the ‘Best’ book.

I actually didn’t select mayonnaise first. I had decided to make a salad dressing which you will see in a later post and one of the ingredients for the salad dressing was mayonnaise. I didn’t have any mayo in the house but I did have the ingredients for making it from scratch. Now in the ‘Best’ book they have several versions of mayonnaise but I decided on the plain one since it was going to be used as a base for the salad dressing. They also have the option of doing it by hand or using a food processor. The food processor version doubles the recipe and uses whole eggs instead of just the yolk. I was curious as to the difference in egg usage considering the only real difference to the recipe was the use of the food processor. After whisking by hand I can only assume no human can reach the whisking speed required to emulsify oil into a whole egg. Why did I try to whisk by hand? I thought it would be fun…

I think my entire arm seized up after the first 3rd of oil had been added. My brain could not actually coordinate my arm to move in a natural manner. I knew I wanted to whisk vigorously but my arm and brain had decided now was a time to have a little family spat. I took a momentary pause to help smooth over the brain/arm relationship and once both parties had come to an agreement I went back to whisking, this time following the agreed upon terms and proceeding a little slower. Surprisingly the mixture started to thicken up and soon I had a beautiful, yellow, creamy... mayonnaise?

It turned out pretty good. Would I make this again from scratch? Probably, but I would reserve it for occasions when mayonnaise needed to be spotlighted. I would definitely like to try some of the other variations since the addition of spices and herbs could make for a plethora of tasty options. Of course next time I will try the food processor. Might be easier.