My trip back to Anchorage required a full day in a van. By the time I arrived, I was ready for a good piece of salmon. Gwennie's is an old-fashioned, somewhat touristy restaurant that provided me with a very satisfying meal and friendly service. The exterior looked to me as if it had formerly been a Chinese restaurant but I have been assured that it has always been Gwennie's.
The wall is adorned with some very interesting old photographs.
I started with a big iceberg salad.
This is my smoked salmon, something that you almost never see as a main course in the lower 48. The salmon was rich. The smoking intensified the flavors and firmed up the texture. I really enjoyed my meal and went back to my hotel satisfied.
I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b...




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