The Real Reason to DIY
Kate Williams is a food writer living in Berkeley, California.
My fascination with DIY cooking started with almond butter — or, more accurately, it started with the transformative realization that a single jar of almond butter was close to a fifth of my meager grocery budget for the week. I was working my first salaried job in Boston — which was, at the time, one of the most expensive cities in the country. Forget artisanal almond butter, my entry-level starting paycheck was barely enough to pay rent and car insurance. Bulk almonds, on the other hand, were a much better deal.
I skimmed through a few recipes online, and I realized that my hand-me-down food processor could do just as good a job making my own nut butter as any boutique food company. Plus, I quickly learned that the homemade stuff is infinitely customizable. Sea salt, chocolate, and honey are just the beginning.
But this is not a story about almond butter. It’s not even about saving money, for that matter. It’s about taking that first step toward total immersion in your own personal culinary experience. Since I started DIY-ing my nut butter, I’ve tackled many, many other projects. Some — like mustard, yogurt, and granola — are practical, cheap, and shockingly easy. Others — like homemade Sriracha, sprinkles, and candy corn — are involved, time-consuming, and not always better than what I can find at a grocery store. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t worth it. Indeed, these homemade pantry ingredients bring me more pleasure than the average culinary project.
To whittle a paragraph-long ingredient list down to a few items bound together with a little technique and a little faith feels like an act of magic. Like many fellow cooks today, I take pride in the foods I bring home from the grocery store and the farmers’ market. My DIY pantry certainly plays a part in that pride. Still, I don’t just cook everything from scratch to maintain control over ingredients. I cook from scratch because it forces me to slow down and take the time to pay attention. It is meditative, this cooking.
That first whiff of pureed and lightly fermented chiles, sugar, and vinegar gently gurgling away in a saucepot? Pure heaven. The calm, focused mindset required to shape individual pieces of candy corn? Restorative. And the spoonful of vanilla ice cream piled high with homemade mint sprinkles is more than wonderful — it motivates me to step into the kitchen another day. These uniquely personal aromas, sensations, and tastes inspire appreciation of each and every bit of food I eat.
DIY cooking doesn’t have to be challenging. Again, it can be as simple as throwing warm almonds into a food processor. But I encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and try tackling a food you never thought possible to make at home. Sriracha and candy corn are two good places to start. Once you see the magic happen on your own stovetop, you just might get hooked. 
DIY Sriracha
- Servings Makes 2 cups
Ingredients
- 245 grams (1 cup) plain yogurt with live cultures
- 680 grams (1 ½ pounds) whole red jalapenos or Fresno chiles, stems snipped off
- 12 cloves garlic, peeled
- 50 grams (¼ cup) brown sugar
- 15 ml (1 tablespoon) kosher salt
- 118 ml (½ cup) distilled white vinegar
Preparation
1. Line a fine-mesh strainer with a triple layer of coffee filters and set it over a liquid measuring cup. Spoon the yogurt into the strainer, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until the yogurt has released 59 ml (¼ cup) of liquid, about 2 hours.
2. Place the jalapenos, garlic, sugar, and salt in a food processor, and process until the chiles are finely chopped. Stop to scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the drained yogurt whey and pulse to combine.
3. Transfer the mixture to a 1 liter (1 quart) glass jar and cover with a kitchen towel or triple layer of cheesecloth. Secure the towel with a rubber band. Let the chile mixture sit at room temperature to ferment until bubbles have formed in the mixture and the chile mixture has risen and then fallen (indicating that fermentation has slowed down), around 12 to 16 days.
4. Transfer the chile mixture to the jar of a blender, add the white vinegar, and puree until completely smooth, 1 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a medium-mesh strainer set over a medium saucepan. Strain the chile mixture into the saucepan, using a rubber spatula to push through as much pulp as you can. You’ll want to leave behind only the seeds and large pieces of chiles behind.
5. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sauce thickens enough to cling to a spoon, about 15 minutes. Transfer to glass jar or plastic squeeze bottle and store in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.
DIY Honey Candy Corn
- Servings Makes about 10 dozen
Ingredients
- 128 grams (1 ¼ cups (4.5 oz) confectioners’ sugar
- 21 grams (3 tablespoons plus ¾ teaspoon) nonfat dry milk
- 1.3 ml (¼ teaspoon) kosher salt
- 99 grams (½ cup) granulated sugar
- 99 grams (¼ cup plus 3 teaspoons) honey
- 28 grams (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 2.5 ml (½ teaspoon) vanilla
- Food coloring (yellow and red or orange)
- Non-stick cooking spray
Preparation
1. Sift the confectioners’ sugar, dry milk, and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Combine the granulated sugar, honey, and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a boil, and continue to cook without stirring until the syrup registers 110° C (230° F) on a candy thermometer, 1 to 2 minutes. The mixture will be pale and frothy.
3. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Whisk in the vanilla and the reserved confectioners’ sugar mixture. Continue to whisk until the mixture is combined and smooth. Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and let rest until it is cool enough to handle, about 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Using a bench scraper or a knife, divide the dough into three equal batches and transfer each to its own bowl. Add 7-10 drops of yellow food coloring to one batch of dough and knead until the color is consistent throughout the dough. Add more coloring if desired. Add 7-10 drops of orange food coloring (or 7 drops of yellow and 4 drops of red coloring) to the second batch of dough. Knead until the color is consistent throughout the dough. Add more coloring if desired. Leave the third batch white.
5. On another piece of parchment paper, roll each piece of dough into a snake about 45 cm (18 inches) long. Cut each snake in half and roll until each snake is 1.27 cm (1/2 inch) thick.
6. Lay three snakes side by side in the following order: orange, yellow, and white. Press the snakes together firmly with your fingers and cut into sections about 10 cm (4 inches) long. Repeat the process with the remaining snakes.
7. Spray a bench scraper or pancake spatula with non-stick cooking spray and use it to press each 10 cm (4-inch) section into a wedge; the orange section should be the widest point and the white section should come to a tip. Repeat with remaining 10 cm (4-inch) sections.
8. Using the bench scraper or a knife sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, cut each wedge into individual .6 cm (1/4-inch) candies. Lay the candies out on the parchment-lined cookie sheet, and let air-dry overnight. Store in an airtight container between layers of parchment paper for up to a week.
Kate Williams
Kate Williams is a food writer living in Berkeley, California. She currently works as a content writer for the Bay Area food start-up, Mission: Heirloom. Kate previously spent two years as a test cook at America’s Test Kitchen, and has contributed to Serious Eats, The Oxford American, KQED and The Hypocrite Reader, among others. You can follow her on Twitter at @KateHWilliams.
Courtesy photo
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