
You’ve seen mermaid’s purses on the beach, in places where skates and rays are common. They are the animals’ egg sacs. Not something you’d think of having for breakfast, but that’s okay, because this dish only looks like a mermaid’s purse! This is made from crepes and eggs, and you’ll find complete instructions for making on at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user Windell Oskay)
Recently we brought you the first edition of the Feast of Fiction recipe series-a recipe for Sunshine Souffle from the video game Skyrim. That recipe looks delicious, and easy to make, but their newest recipe for Butterbeer looks utterly repulsive.
That’s right, I said Butterbeer, but before all you Harry Potter fans get too excited, you need to know: this recipe contains neither beer nor butter, and it contains artificial butter flavoring, which makes any food (except movie theater popcorn, for some reason) gross and way too buttery.
Maybe this recipe is a dream come true for HP fanatics, but to me it sounds like a good idea gone terribly wrong. But what do you think: are you going to be trying out this recipe for yourself?
–via GeeksAreSexy
Here is why all recipes should be thoroughly tested before publication. The Chilean newspaper La Tercera printed a recipe for churros in 2004. Now they must pay damages varying from $279 to $48,000 to eleven woman who were injured trying the recipe.
Judges determined that the newspaper failed to fully test it before publication, and that if readers followed the recipe exactly, the churros had a good chance of exploding once the oil reached the suggested temperature. Grupo Copesa, which publishes the paper, said it will abide by the ruling.
Days after the recipe was published in the paper’s “Woman” magazine in 2004, hospitals around the country began treating women for burns suffered when the dough boiling in oil suddenly shot out of kitchen pots.
(Image credit: Flickr user cherrypatter)
The world created by Bethesda Studios for their Elder Scrolls video game series is so fully realized, so full of details other game companies would have left out of such a massive project, that now people have taken to making food in real life via the recipes found in books you can read in-game.
The culinary creatives behind this project, called Feast of Fiction, have revealed their first Skyrim inspired recipe-Sunlight Souffle. And, much like the recipes inspired by the food in the Game of Thrones series that people are making nowadays, the end results look interesting and delicious. I can’t wait to see what kind of recipes they discover, and bring to life, next!
–via Geekosystem

These cute cookies with melting snowmen on top were made by professionals at Truly Custom Cakery, but they explain how you can make your own. The tutorial even shows you how to make a melting snowman throwing a snowball! Link -via Fuzzy Dave’s Carousel of Wonderosities
If you can can handle the Cherpumple, if you can deal with the Krispy Creme Cheeseburger, then behold the turDunkin! From Unwholesome Foods, this creation is a turkey
brined in Dunkin’ Donuts coolattas, stuffed with munchkins and served with coffee gravy and mashed hash browns. The turDunkin’ should not be confused with the hot meaty mess that is a turducken, which is a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken.
Find out how to make this yourself at Instructables. Link -via Geeks Are Sexy
Alan Travers’ very first stop-motion animation was inspired when his girlfriend Dee said she’d made her “legendary chocolate biscuit cake so many times now that the ingredients could make it by themselves.” Watch them do just that! By the way, “biscuit” is the British term for what Americans call “cookies.” This video was entered in a competition. The voting is closed, but you can learn more about Dee and her cake at Cully & Sully. Link -via Laughing Squid
Ktarian Chocolate Puffs were described in the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation as having 17 different kinds of chocolate in them. The blogger bananamondaes took that as a challenge (or possibly an excuse to buy many kinds of chocolate), and created a recipe that actually uses that many in a cream puff. It doesn’t look easy, but we are assured that the results are worth it! Link -via @johncfarrier
This dessert looks creepy, but it’s actually delicious cake with brain-shaped frosting and a bit of raspberry jelly for blood, all stuffed on a jar. The instructions for making your own are at Living Locurto. Link -via Everlasting Blort
My first reaction to this headline was “Aren’t french fries already deep fried?” I guess that’s no barrier to deep-frying them again. In this recipe, the poutine (french fries, cheese curds, and gravy) are stuffed in an eggroll wrap and then deep fried.
The deep fried poutine turned out really well and tasted great, but it was a little dry due to the lack of much filling. Now that I think about it though, I’m sure that dipping them in gravy before each bite could easily solve that problem. Either way, if I made it again I’d definitely try to pack some more fries, cheese curds and gravy into the egg roll wrappers. Your move Canada!
Anyone want to try this and report back to us? Link -via J-Walk Blog
A lot of people look down their noses at processed American cheese, but deep down inside, a lot of us see it as a combination of comfort food and convenience food. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could make it at home?
But what exactly is American cheese? I suppose it’s that exact question that gives it such a bad rap. The American cheese that you find on supermarket shelves isn’t cheese made in the traditional way (milk that’s formed into curds and pressed). Instead, it’s either a blend of cheese and additives, or it’s a highly processed mixture of ingredients such as water, milk, milkfat, milk protein, whey, food coloring, flavorings, and emulsifiers. I wanted to get as close as possible to the taste and texture of American cheese using only pantry ingredients and a food processor.
By making your own American cheese, not only will you know exactly what went into it, but also you can add in flavorings such as black pepper, roasted red peppers… you name it. As I concocted my version of American cheese in the test kitchen, not only did I draw a crowd of curious onlookers, I caused all of the snooty foodies to run for the hills. That’s okay, because I’d take any kind of American cheese over head cheese any day.
The process of making your own doesn’t look too difficult, with directions from Yvonne Ruperti at America’s Test Kitchen. Link -via the Presurfer
G&T Jelly is British for Gin & Tonic Jell-o. What’s special about this recipe is that it glows under a black light (UV light to you young folks)! The active ingredient is the quinine in the tonic water -or the gin, depending on your goals for the recipe. Find it at Instructables, with US conversions and some variations in the comments. Link -via Nag on the Lake
The cake is just a recipe, but the video that explains it is art! -via Nag on the Lake
I can’t vouch for the quality or the safety of this recipe, since I haven’t tried it (and probably never will), but English Russia has a how-post on making your own absinthe. There are a lot of herbs involved.
Wormwood: 100 g
Fennel (fruit): 50 g
Anise: 50 g
Mint: 15 g
Melissa: 8 g
Chamomile: 3 g
Cumin: 10 g
Angelica: 10 g
It would be nice to add 5-10 g of hyssop, but it is difficult to find.
And then later another round of herbs.
Melissa: 8 g
Licorice: 10 g
Mint: 15 g
Chamomile: 2 g
Angelica: 2 g
One of the steps is to put the concoction away for two weeks, presumably to give you time to ponder the wisdom of the whole enterprise. Link -via Dangerous Minds
Just like Pop Tart Cat, these are sweet and colorful and fun, but they are also real marshmallows treats you can make at home. The instructions are at the decorated cookie. Link -via Laughing Squid
Yes, it’s made of popcorn, plus M&Ms, pretzel sticks, and marshmallows. Would you try it? Get the recipe at Cookies and Cups. Link -via Everlasting Blort
As you collected all those Altoid tins for various projects, you may have developed a taste for the “curiously strong peppermints.” Instructables has the recipe so that you can make them at home, with only four ingredients and one extra tool. The flavor is your choice. Link -via Lifehacker
It may look like a Rubik’s cube, but this is a dessert you can make yourself -if you have the time. Despite the first paragraph of the post, this does not contain cottage cheese or vegetables, just gelatin and sweetened condensed milk. Link -via Metafilter
Putting your meal between slices of bread is a trick people do all over the world -with slight differences from country to country. In Australia you may have a chance to try the yeast paste Vegemite. In Japan you can have your noodles in your sandwich. In Vietnam you might encounter the spicy Vietnamese bahn mi.
A baguette stuffed to the brim with meat and pickled veggies, the banh mi is fusion food at its best. But be warned: it’s usually sprinkled with cilantro, so don’t be surprised by an herby kick when you take a bite.
Find more sandwich styles from around the world at National Geographic Traveler. Link -Thanks, Marilyn!
The perfect Halloween entree, composed of meatloaf, noodles, and olive eyes. Complete directions with meatloaf recipe can be found at Gather and Nest. Link -via TYWKIWDBI
I have a boiled egg for breakfast every morning. They are alternately too runny or rock hard. I don’t wear crap jewelery and too much lipstick nor are Evian and a chainsaw included in my recipe. Now I know why my boiled eggs are hit or miss.
From Davis Dainty Dishes (1948) by Davis Gelatine [Photo: Shelf Life Taste Test]
Unlike the bacon pancake post that Miss Cellania wrote last week, certain things that are delicious really don’t belong together. Case in point, this lobster relish creation above, which combines lobster and gelatine (Jell-O). Now, I like lobster and I love Jell-O, but the thought of them combining is giving me the ooies.
Matt Stopera of BuzzFeed has a list of 12 terrifying culinary creations made with Jell-O. Each one is more horrifying than the last. Read at your own risk: Link – Thanks Eric!
Think of them as edible rhinestones, or maybe lollipops without sticks. Chica and Jo not only have the recipe and step-by-step illustrated instructions for making hard candy jewels, but also warnings about what could go wrong and why. The results are lovely bright colored hard candies folks won’t believe you made yourself! Link -via Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories
Jeff Varasano, a New York pizza chef in Atlanta, shares his love of pizza and pizza making. In this extensive page, he breaks down every ingredient and procedure to explain why each step is important. Then he displays different pies and critiques them.
The quality of the ingredients is very important. I have scoured the lands, trying every brand of flour, tomato and cheese I could find. I’ve had cheese flown in, paying $75 for enough cheese for just one round of pies, I’ve even made my own cheese from scratch, starting with just milk. I’ve tasted every brand of tomato I could find and peeled and blanched my own from local tomato growers. And theses things do make a difference. But there’s just no getting around the simple truth of ‘the big three’ – High heat, good natural yeast, and mixing technique. Getting these right will cover a lot of sins and getting these wrong will screw up the best ingredients.
Varasano even praises and ranks other pizzerias and gives directions to them! Link -via reddit
This picture shows what hydrogen atoms might look like if we could see them.
The chart above shows the appearance of a single hydrogen atom in a few of its lowest excited states. In each of those states, the electron is found in a different orbital, some of which have unfamiliar shapes. But even the term “shape” is a little funny for something that you can’t hold in your hand. These are actually probability density plots, which show the likelihood of observing the electron in any one position at a given time– and more correctly, 2D projections of 3D probability densities.
So even the humble hydrogen atom can be a bit complex. Fortunately, we have advanced technology that can help us cut though the quantum mechanical haze: Cookies!
What we can see (and taste) are cookies made to resemble the shapes of the hydrogen atoms in the chart. The folks at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories made these cookies and will show you how you can make them, too! Link
Peepshi is sushi made from marshmallow Peeps! Yeah, it looks like sushi, but the ingredients are Peeps, Rice Krispies, and Fruit by the Foot, so you know it’s super sweet. Link -via Nag on the Lake
(image credit: Robyn Lee)
Mmmm, beaver! Bug Girl posted these beaver recipes from a 1960 pamphlet entitled Good Eating from Woods and Fields, which also includes instructions for cooking muskrat. Link -Thanks, ersatz soubriquet!
See more from the booklet in her Flickr stream.
Can’t decide what kind of pie to serve after Thanksgiving dinner? Make them all in one pie pan! Cakespy at Serious Eats experimented with pecan, apple, and pumpkin pie recipes to make this triple threat. The best results came from the pie divided into sections, as seen in the picture. The recipes are included. Link -via Unique Daily
This recipe for turkey stuffing calls for “18 White Castle hamburgers (no pickles), chopped into 1-inch pieces,” (or you can substitute bread, but it won’t be the same). I suppose if you live in the southern part of the US, you could substitute Krystals. Both brands are commonly called sliders. The recipe is a part of Thanksgiving for Chicago chefs Chris and Jill Barron, who share their Thanksgiving cooking schedule. Link to story. Link to recipe. -via Boing Boing
(image credit: Flickr user DaddyPlus5)
MacGyver Chef is a new series at the gadget blog Gizmodo about attempts to cook meals without conventional cooking implements. Author Dan Nosowitz has previously poached chicken and couscous in a coffee maker. In his most recent post, he experimented with steaming salmon and cilanto sauce in a dishwasher. You can view read a step-by-step guide and view photos of the process at the link.

