New Opinions on the "New" New Cook Book and Pumpkin Peach Jibbering

With a little more time spent with my "new" New Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, I have to admit my previous post may have been mistaken. The pages "feel" flimsier at first touch, but I think they're at least as sturdy as the original, and being ring-bound may keep them all in usable shape for much longer than my original New Cook Book. It's lasted for 30-some years so you'll definitely get your moneys worth! I'm pretty careful with any printed material, so even my original still looks good after 30 years...the binding is starting to let a few pages go from my favorite sections, though. :-(

Other news from the kitchen:  Bottled Rockabilly Pumpkin Peach Ale last Monday. I started out with the Peach of Resistance Pumpkin Peach Ale from Northern Brewers. This kit was very much a direct response to Bud's Superbowl ad, and Northern Brewers did a fantastic job with this one!

I added a considerable amount of Libby's canned pumpkin, as well as adding 4 vanilla beans to the fermenter for the second week of fermentation. Unless I need the primary, I've been deliberately NOT moving my beer to a secondary fermenter. Lazy, or just testing the necessity of this step in a brew where clarity is not particularly beneficial?

Pumpkin is subtle enough a flavor that some commercial pumpkin brews skip adding any altogether and settle for fooling your senses with pumpkin pie spices. Your imagination fills in the blanks. Your imagination is a pretty powerful thing, and some of the best "pumpkin" beers I've tried didn't have any pumpkin in them at all. I lean towards "more pumpkin flavor is better" in my homebrew, and am actually working towards some pumpkin solids remaining in the bottle to add both color and some solidity to the mouthfeel. (Pumpkin beers should be a little "chewy!")

Rockabilly Pumpkin Peach Ale....the prequel! (FG gravity test and taste pic)

That's enough babbling from the kitchen tonight folks...next week, growlers, growler koozies, and growler on board baby seats!

Drink like chimneys, smoke like fish and jump like crocodiles!