Recipes One

Like so many immigrants coming into America with little more than a dream in their head and twinkle in their eye, now even cupcakeries are being documented. 

Cue the Saved-by-the-Bell-style aside: Whats with this country and lists? Seriously, if America were a person, shed be the anal retentive girl in high school who sat in the front row to take copious notes, ran for student body/theatre club president, and could recite every female Supreme Court Justice...alphabetically. In other words, me. Or Tracy Flick. She liked cupcakes, too:

 I too made cupcakes for my "presidential" campaign;
sadly, nothing electoral rhymes with "Herald"

Anyway, Cupcakes Take the Cake has taken it upon themselves to begin the daunting task of cataloging every last damn cupcake shop in the WORLD!!! And by world, I mean U.S. Theyve come up with 422, and the list is still growing (theyre missing a few in NoVa-- Lavender Moon and Alexandria Cupcake come to mind first).

You can see the full list here, but as it pertains to the D.C. community, here are the shops in our tri-state(ish) area. It just makes me realize how many more cupcakeries Ive yet to try...and judge:

Virginia
Carolina Cupcakery (Chesapeake)
Carytown Cupcakes (Richmond)
Cupcakes Actually (Fairfax)
Signature Cupcakes (Fairfax)
Two Sweet Cupcake Boutique (Richmond)

Babycakes (Richmond)
Cupcake Central (Virginia Beach)
The Cupcake Ladi (Reston)
Frostings (Glen Allen)
Just Cupcakes (Virginia Beach)
Pearls Cupcake Shoppe (Richmond)
Reeses Cupcakes (Richmond)
Roxies Cupcakes (Virginia Beach)

Washington, DC
Baked & Wired (Georgetown)
Bakeshop DC
Bona Fide Cupcakes (custom)
Cake Love
Delleicious Desserts (custom)
Georgetown Cupcake
Hello Cupcake
Lily Lane Cakes
Red Velvet Cupcakery
Rhondas Cupcakery (custom)
Something Sweet
Sallys Gourmet Cupcakes (custom)
TreetShop (delivery)

Maryland
Baltimore Cupcake Company (Baltimore)
Cake Love (Baltimore)
Charm City Cupcakes (Baltimore)
Frosting Bakeshop and Coffee Bar (Chevy Chase)
Georgetown Cupcake (Bethesda) 

Nostalgia Cupcakes (Annapolis)
Sweet Devotion Cupcake & Creperie Cafe (Havre de Grace) 

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Cong You Bing (Scallion Pancakes)

Cong You Bing means literally scallion oil pancake and is a very practical description.  It is flavored with scallions, sesame oil and salt, and is an unleavened cake cooked on a flat griddle or pan.  These snacks are popular over many parts of central and northern China and Taiwan.  As flatbread, cong you bing shares similarities with an almost infinite variety of breads in nearly every country on earth.  Because they are delicious, cheap and easy to prepare, flatbreads are often a street food favorite, sold by vendors using flat steel or iron pans fired by coal or propane.  The same is true in China, although variations in size, thickness and ingredients exist, including the use of meat, peppercorns, and eggs (see our video from Shanghai, at the bottom of this post)  This recipe is the simplest and most widely known.  The key is to utilize a very wet dough, so long as it can be managed by using enough oil on the work surface and hands.  The recipe below uses 65% water.  Also, one will find that storing the dough for some time is helpful as well, 2 or 3 days in the refrigerator, or 1 or two days at room temperature.  If time is an issue, however, this long storage is not absolutely necessary to achieve an adequate texture.  Although the several photos below might mislead one into thinking this flatbread is difficult, in fact, the recipe is extremely easy to prepare

10 oz all purpose flour

4 – 6 Scallions, white and green portion, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tab peanut oil

4 oz (by weight) of boiling water

2.5 oz (by weight) of cold water

Make the dough by adding the boiling water and stirring with a wooden spoon; when it is well incorporated, add the cold water and continue mixing until it is smooth.  Allow to cool, pat the mound into a ball with an oiled spatula or hands, and set aside, covered, for a day or two in the refrigerator.

Turn out the dough on an oiled surface and flatten into a rectangle, approximately 1/4” thick and cut into 4 rectangles (this can vary according to the finished size you prefer).  With an oiled roller, roll out each rectangle to 1/8” or so, and brush with sesame oil.  Sprinkle with course salt, according to taste.  Sprinkle 2 or 3 tablespoons of chopped scallion evenly over the flats and roll up, beginning from the long edge, and when rolled, pinch together to seal.   From either end of the “rope,” roll up the dough into a coil and seal the end.  Place the coil flat, and roll into a disk of approximately 1/8” thick and 5 or 6” in diameter.

Heat a flat, preferably cast iron pan to medium high heat.  Add peanut oil to a depth of 1/8” or more.  When oil is just smoking,  place pancake into oil and fry on each side until golden brown.

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Harissa is probably my all-time favorite hot sauce, and one I’m sure you’ve seen me use in a bunch of recipes here. As I mention in the video, a small spoonful of this makes virtually any savory dish better.

Now, I’ll admit to usually buying mine in convenient tubes imported straight from Tunisia, but I decided to show you my homemade version, since I do get the occasional note saying, “Chef John, I’m in the witness protection program, living in rural North Dakota, and they don’t carry many North African condiments at the market...what else can I use?”

As with any similar recipe, there are countless variations using many different combinations of fresh, roasted, boiled, and dried chili peppers. Same goes for the spice, but I really like the blend listed below. Dried mint really has a unique, and much different flavor than the fresh herb, and as I hope you experience, toasting the caraway and coriander does wonderful things.

I could do a 5000-word essay on what you can do with this sauce, but just for starters consider these ideas; Harissa aioli, pizza sauce, sandwich spread, steak sauce, chicken marinade, and rubbed on your knee to help that arthritis (warning: check with your family doctor before starting any sauce-based treatments).

Anyway, if you’ve seen me use Harissa, and were frustrated that you didn’t have access to any of this magical product, now you can make your own. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 red bell peppers, fire roasted, peeled, seeded

6-7 red Fresno chili, seeded

1 habanero, seeded

4-5 garlic cloves, peeled

1⁄4 to 1/2 tsp caraway seeds

1⁄4 to 1/2 tsp coriander seeds

1⁄2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp dried mint

1 tsp kosher salt or to taste

juice of 1 lemon

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, added to blender at very end (do not blend more than a few seconds)

View the complete recipe

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The first photo is a lovely white pizza done by one of my protégés, Jairus. He sent it in with the name "no-knead lamb shank pizza," which would have been very cool, if it had been true. He admits this was actually done with leftover pork, which I have to say trumps lamb shank as a pizza topping any day.

The second photo is "awesome Ciabatta" as its creator Claude describes it. I can only assume he learned everything he knows from watching the site. I can see no visible signs of unnecessary kneading. Thanks fellows.

Lastly, a video disproving one of the great bread myths of our time - that you can eat a slice of Wonder Bread in less than 60 seconds.

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