Good Eats!

Good Eats is my new TV obsession.  I love, love this show!  And Marcus just happened to overhear me raving about it and bought me the whole first season!!  I can't wait to watch all of them.  It reminds me of watching Bill Nye as a kid because it was science, but interesting.  This is the same way, but with food science.  Alton Brown has a way of making you think about cooking in a more abstract, fluid way than just following a recipe.  It gets to the bottom of how foods react when heated, why certain cooking methods are preferred to achieve a desired result, and what type of heat to use to attain a specific texture, just to name a few things I've learned.

One of the biggest things I've noticed is that Alton uses the freshest, rawest ingredients possible to get the best flavor.  Which seems obvious when you think about it, but then again, look at how many "convenience" foods you find in the grocery store.  I get it, we're busy.  But seriously people, are we too "busy" to grate our own cheese these days?  (Not to mention the price difference in block cheese and pre-shredded.)  That's just one example off the top of my head, but I agree with Alton, if you want the freshest taste, you gotta use the freshest ingredients. 

Ok, now that I've stepped down off my soapbox, I have recipes! And pictures!  :)

The first thing I made from Good Eats was the Overnight Cinnamon Rolls (yes, from scratch!).  They are delicious.  Please try them because they're not hard to make and who doesn't like to wake up to freshly baked cinnamon rolls on a Saturday morning? Or a Tuesday for that matter? :)  So, here's the recipe from Food Network. 

I started with all my ingredients, since if I ever happen to have my own cooking show, that's how they do it (except I'd have prettier measuring cups on TV):

Cream the butter and sugar with the whisk attachment:

Add the dry ingredients:

Once it forms dough, knead on a floured surface, then cover with plastic wrap in a bowl to rise:

Once it rises, roll it out into a 12 x 18 inch rectangle, brush with melted butter, and add the cinnamon/sugar mixture, leaving the top inch or so empty to help prevent spillage.  I added pecans and raisins to mine:

Slowly roll the dough into a tight cylinder:

Then cut the dough into thirds, then each one of the three in half and then each one of those in half.  That should give you 12 rolls.  Put in a 9x13 pan and chill in the fridge ovenight:

Don't those look yummy?  Good, because that's the last picture I have of them.  The next morning, I got up, put them in the oven and realized when they didn't get big and puffy like the ones on TV that my yeast was probably a little past its prime.  Not a huge deal taste wise, they just stayed about the same size as the previous picture once they were baked.  I drizzled them (or swizzled, if you're my dad) with a powdered sugar/milk icing and we ate them up.  They were really good and I will definitely be making these again (with fresh yeast)!  :)

I am almost 100% positive that the more I watch Good Eats, the more posts you will see with me trying to recreate something I saw on the show.  So stay tuned! :)