You know, lots of people claim to be good cooks, or know good cooks, or have an amazing recipe for this or that. But Alicorn’s cauliflower soup… it’s the first food that, upon sneakily shoveling a fourth helping into my bowl, made me cackle maniacally like an insane evil sorcerer high on magic potions of incredible power, unable to keep myself from alerting three other soup-enjoying people to my glorious triumph. It’s that good.
PS: If this endorsement of house food quality encourages anyone to apply for an SIAI fellowship, note your inspiration in the e-mail! We receive referral rewards!
Can you describe that “better than bouillon” thing, for us non-US (I assume) readers?
Also, how much cream do you use, and what’s “a ton” of garlic? (In my kitchen, that could mean half a pound — we use garlic paste as ketchup around here...)
Better than Bouillon is paste-textured reduced stock. It’s gloopy, not very pretty, and adds excellent flavor to just about any savory dish. Instead of water and BTB, you could use a prepared stock, or instead of just the BTB, use a bouillon cube, but I find they have dramatically inferior flavors unless you make your own stock at home. I haven’t tried cooking down a batch of homemade stock to see if I could get paste, but I think it would probably take too long.
I guess on the cream until the color looks about right. I use less cream if I overshot on the water when I was cooking the veggies, more if it’s a little too thick.
“A ton” of garlic means “lots, to taste”. I’d put one bulb in a batch of cauliflower soup mostly because it’s convenient to grab one bulb out of a bag of garlic bulbs. If you’re that enthusiastic about garlic, go ahead and use two, three, four—it’s kind of hard to overdo something that wonderful.
As long as three months (and the possibility of sticking around after if everything goes swimmingly), but you could come for considerably shorter if you have scheduling constraints. We’ve also been known to have people over for a day or two just to visit and see how cool we are. Totally e-mail Anna if you have any interest at all! Don’t be shy! She isn’t scary!
I second Anna, but I will also note that we plan on moving into a biggg house or possibly two big houses, and this would hopefully minimize friction in the event that two Visiting Fellows don’t quite get along. I hope you apply!
You know, lots of people claim to be good cooks, or know good cooks, or have an amazing recipe for this or that. But Alicorn’s cauliflower soup… it’s the first food that, upon sneakily shoveling a fourth helping into my bowl, made me cackle maniacally like an insane evil sorcerer high on magic potions of incredible power, unable to keep myself from alerting three other soup-enjoying people to my glorious triumph. It’s that good.
Awwwww :D
PS: If this endorsement of house food quality encourages anyone to apply for an SIAI fellowship, note your inspiration in the e-mail! We receive referral rewards!
Would you be willing to post the recipe?
http://improvisationalsoup.wordpress.com/2009/05/31/cream-of-cauliflower-soup/
I have taken to also adding two or three parsnips per batch.
Can you describe that “better than bouillon” thing, for us non-US (I assume) readers?
Also, how much cream do you use, and what’s “a ton” of garlic? (In my kitchen, that could mean half a pound — we use garlic paste as ketchup around here...)
Better than Bouillon is paste-textured reduced stock. It’s gloopy, not very pretty, and adds excellent flavor to just about any savory dish. Instead of water and BTB, you could use a prepared stock, or instead of just the BTB, use a bouillon cube, but I find they have dramatically inferior flavors unless you make your own stock at home. I haven’t tried cooking down a batch of homemade stock to see if I could get paste, but I think it would probably take too long.
I guess on the cream until the color looks about right. I use less cream if I overshot on the water when I was cooking the veggies, more if it’s a little too thick.
“A ton” of garlic means “lots, to taste”. I’d put one bulb in a batch of cauliflower soup mostly because it’s convenient to grab one bulb out of a bag of garlic bulbs. If you’re that enthusiastic about garlic, go ahead and use two, three, four—it’s kind of hard to overdo something that wonderful.
How long are the fellowships for?
As long as three months (and the possibility of sticking around after if everything goes swimmingly), but you could come for considerably shorter if you have scheduling constraints. We’ve also been known to have people over for a day or two just to visit and see how cool we are. Totally e-mail Anna if you have any interest at all! Don’t be shy! She isn’t scary!
Does Alicorn’s presence prohibit me from applying for an SIAI fellowship?
Nope. All applications are welcome.
I second Anna, but I will also note that we plan on moving into a biggg house or possibly two big houses, and this would hopefully minimize friction in the event that two Visiting Fellows don’t quite get along. I hope you apply!