Week 10: Apple Strudel

Hi everyone!

Making a strudel makes
me a real chef, right?

When I first embarked on my grand mission (keeping this blog), I undertook intense research. And by research, I mean googling ‘hard things chefs should know how to make’. According to one of the many sites that I browsed and do not remember, apple strudel is one of those hard, chef-y things. So guess what? This week I made apple strudel!

I was caught choosing between a recipe by Martha Stewart and another by some Viennese website’s recipe. However, the Viennese website's was cheaper and had step by step photos, so it was an easy win in my book. Also, the writer claimed that it was her grandmother’s recipe. And come on, nothing can beat a little, old Austrian lady’s strudel.

Dough

I was surprised at how tiny the ball of dough was (later it's rolled extremely thin). The recipe requested that the dough be worked for ten minutes, and I mentally readied myself for torture. I swear every bloody time I've kneaded dough or pastry, my arm has desperately wanted to fall off. Alas, not this time! The strudel dough was an absolute dream- it was like kneading a fluffy marshmallow!

Filling

Dubious looking
'chilli rum'

I have no idea what a Macintosh apple is. To me 'Macintosh', conjures images of an Irish man in a kilt. As far as I can tell, Macintosh apples don’t exist in Australia. By that I mean that they weren’t at Woolies, and that’s pretty much the same thing. I compromised, using Granny Smith apples.

The raisins had to be soaked in either rum or water. I asked my family members if we had any rum, as more of a joke than a genuine enquiry. I was pretty surprised when my mother said that we did, and fetched the dodgiest looking bottle I’ve ever set eyes on. Nobody knows where it came from. It honestly looked like Captain Jack's secret, 30 year old stash of rum. I didn't use it, I'm not insane.

Also: the combination of toasted breadcrumbs in butter, sugar and cinnamon is sinfully good. I may or may not have eaten half of the mixture.

Strudelling it up

After rolling out the rested dough with a rolling pin, the dough had to be hand stretched until it reached paper thinness. Unfortunately, delicacy has never been my forte. Needless to say, holes appeared. But that’s alright, it’s rustic right? Rolling the strudel up was simultaneously the most stressful and satisfying thing I’ve ever undertaken. It reached the point of explosion a few times, so yes there were a few tears, but thankfully they didn’t affect the taste!

I now know what true love feels like

Ranking rubric

Taste: 9.8/10- so good, so ridiculously good. The tastiest thing I’ve made so far. The only thing that would have improved it was ice cream.

Presentation/resemblance to dish: 9/10- a beautiful log of crispy pastry, with only a few charred edges

Time: 7/10- my deadline was 4:30pm (afternoon tea time at my place) I started at 1:15, finished before 4, and actually had extra time to eat lunch in between. So yeah not too bad!

Kitchen Mess: 8/10- The amount of washing up didn't make me want to die. What a day of surprises.

This apple strudel is the best thing that’s happened to me.

Cheers,

Rosa