SteemitPhotoChallenge No. 16 -- Entry No. 2 - Decadent Gooey Dark Chocolate Serrano Pumpkin Ginger Mint Bars
Food is one of my passions!
food is such a reality.
Sink into this decadent, moist and gooey dark chocolate, serrano, pumpkin and ginger dessert, drizzled with a creamy mint sauce made with love.
One thing I feel is amazing about this photo, is that this is the beauty and freshness of the love we infuse in our food everyday. This is not a set-up for the camera, but a tasty bite from our everyday life.
This dessert was baked in a cobb oven, we created out of clay we dug from our land with our own hands. It is also fired with scrap wood that was destined for the landfill.
Baking in an oven that is fired by wood is truly an art and takes great skill in fire building, temperature regulation, experience and faith.
How big, hot and fast certain wood burns is a big factor in cooking with fire. One must build a fire hot enough to create the ideal temperature that will not burn the delicate batter, but that will also retain the heat throughout the duration of baking. The oven must be hot enough that should the door need to be opened to check for doneness, it can still generate enough heat to raise the temperature of the oven cavity and continue baking. Oven temperature and timing depends on the fire you build. The success of the baking overall also depends upon the food’s proximity to the fire, moisture retention, bricks and other heat generating mass as well. It’s not just a matter of turning the dial to 350 degrees, the timer for 30 minutes, then returning to stick a knife in the center to test for doneness.
So not only is this decadent, gooey, beautiful, rich with pumpkin and chocolate!!—it is also sustainably made, reducing our carbon footprint and made with love.
Win-win-win-win-win-win!
I like your description of the process as an art that takes skill, experience, and faith. You all do make some great-looking, and I'm sure great-tasting, food out of your gardens and oven!
We have lots of experience and most of all dedication to living sustainably. And with love being the main ingredient, everything comes out fantastic!! Thank you for your comment @haphazard-hstead.
You're welcome!
I am amazed at your ability to bake such beautiful and yummy treats in a cob oven. That puts my baking to shame!
It is quite a task indeed of which requires much practice and constant care and awareness.
It ain't one of those set it and forget it things haha
Living a sustainable life (Thank you @quinneaker) has a profound affect on one's abilities. Most people that come through the @gardenofeden do not even know how to start a fire. Gratefully I grew up building fires and baking bread in a wood burning stove. But this is even more powerful as we have actually created the ovens/stoves ourselves. Pulling a perfectly baked masterpiece out of the oven is indeed a joy--you never really know what's going on in there until you open the door. There is no checking and checking and checking, or looking in through a glass window. Grateful for the opportunity to engage such realities. Thank you for being here @opheliafu.
Wow, great post. Good luck in the competition!
This post has been linked to from another place on Steem.
Learn more about and upvote to support linkback bot v0.5. Flag this comment if you don't want the bot to continue posting linkbacks for your posts.
Built by @ontofractal
Preparing and completing food as good as this is special, but to do it so sustainably, naturally and even primitively is truly awesome!
So many amazing dishes have come out of that oven. I have even seen you @quinneaker reveal delicate cheesecakes from that oven. Mastering the constant variables deserves recognition. The food tastes that much better because of the dedicated attention to it. Thank you for bringing this reality into fruition and holding space for sustainability at its finest. <3
Yes indeed, though don't know why you say "even you" when I am the one who built it and founded the whole outdoor sustainable cooking reality and have been a master chef for a decade. Haha
That didn't come out like I meant it. What I really meant to say was "you even reveal..."!! Cheesecake (and souffle) could potentially be one of the most difficult and delicate things to cook over fire. Not a simple feat. You are the master for sure--so many have be exposed to such a reality and learned some of the high-level skills you so easily demonstrate--on many levels. I'm so grateful for your vision and dedication to sharing possibility with the people. Much love.
=)>
Love~*~