The Danlers » recipe

Brent: Something I Learned

Brent Danley — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:23:18 +0000

Mike, Kim, Kirsten and I visited Maine Distilleries in Freeport on Tuesday to learn how they make their premium potato vodka, Cold River Vodka. We had a private tour with a stillmaster who showed us the facilities, described the process, and answered all our many questions. It was one of the best factory tours I’ve ever experienced. The vodka tasting at the end was nice, too. The blueberry vodka is my favorite. The blueberry flavoring is made from fresh blueberries and added to the vodka before bottling. Flavoring increases the volume so the alcohol added to this spirit is of a higher proof.

Cold River Vodka is made with potatoes grown in Fryeburg, Maine. The potatoes are ground and mixed with water from the Cold River Aquifer to create a mash. This mash is cooked with yeast to create a liquid alcohol byproduct. The mash is then distilled in a tall cylindrical copper distiller to evaporate and capture the alcohol. This alcohol is cut with water to get the desired proof.

Wikipedia – Vodka: Distilling and Filtering

Many distillers from these countries prefer to use very accurate distillation but minimal filtering, thus preserving the unique flavours and characteristics of their products.

Maine Distilleries use very minimum filtering to preserve the unique flavors of the potatoes. They can do this because they use copper distillers instead of stainless steel. The entire column of the distiller has cleaning nozzles and port holes so it can be cleaned before each batch.

While the whisky is generally only distilled down to its final alcohol content, vodka is distilled until it is almost totally pure alcohol and then cut with water to give it its final alcohol content and unique flavour, depending on the source of the water.

Wafer Cup Cakes

Brent Danley — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:32:01 +0000

It was my turn to prepare the refreshments for Family Night this week. Kirsten helped me with the idea (and every other aspect). Our first go we filled the cups too full and they overflowed and collapsed the cups while baking. Our second attempt was far more successful. Cheap, simple and delicious.

Just fill ordinary ice cream wafer cups half full with ordinary cake batter. Bake. Frost. Decorate.

Kirsten basically did everything. She knows where all the stuff is and how to operate her gizmos. I tried to do it, but she wouldn’t let me.

Kirsten helping

It was my idea to put the batter into a large Zip-lock bag and pour it into the cups from a corner we had removed with scissors.

Pouring the batter

Me making refreshments

Ready for the oven

Sexy dancing makes the cakes bake more evenly

Cooked and cooling

Ready for frosting and decorations

Wafer cups

Apple Dessert

Brent Danley — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:44:46 +0000

When I was a kid my favorite dessert was Apple Dessert. The name couldn’t be less original, I know, but the dessert is wonderful. Skye helped me make it yesterday to surprise Kirsten when she got home from work. Skye turned up her nose when I got out the cheese and really grimaced when I began grating the butter.

Enjoy.

Apple Dessert

6 sliced apples
1/4 C hot water
1 t cinnamon
3/4 C flour
1 C sugar
1 C grated cheese
1/2 C grated butter

Peel and slice apples into 13×9″ baking pan. Stir cinnamon into hot water and pour over apples. Combine flour, sugar, grated cheese and grated butter. Sprinkle over apples. Bake at 350°F for one hour. Let cool for a bit. Enjoy.

The ingredients

Like, obviously

The secret ingredient: cheese

Mmmmmmmm
Click to enlarge. Trust me.