Hell's Kitchen

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Seal Bay, Vinalhaven

A couple of times recently when we could only pick up one or two TV signals on the boat’s antenna we actually watched a couple of episodes of Hell’s Kitchen. Those who know him well are familiar with Christian’s peculiarity—he loves to cook and does it very well but does NOT like to watch food shows on TV. I, on the other hand, love them. We enjoyed it for a couple nights, laughing at the chaotic disarray these “chefs” seemed to inflict on their kitchens.

Well, I Wanda seemed a lot like Hell’s Kitchen this morning. We are anchored in the lovely Seal Bay of Vinalhaven, Maine with four other boats, two of which belong to friends. We had the fine idea of making Gramma Pike’s overnight sticky buns so we could have a couple and share the rest with the anchorage. With this recipe you start the batch around mid-day and bake them early the next morning. We have found the way to keep the kitties away from them and the baking started well. I Wanda’s oven is very small and bakes unevenly. For the best chance of success you need to turn the pan half way through the baking. One of the pans is silicone and requires support to turn and the other pans require an insulated cookie sheet under them to prevent caramel burning. I am always nervous about moving the silicone pans as they collapse with disastrous results if not evenly supported. It wasn’t the silicone pan. It was the muffin tin. Instead of grabbing just the tin I moved the cookie sheet holding it. As I was trying the turn the entire hand full while keeping the oven door open the muffin tin slid smartly off the sheet and upended itself on the galley floor. The hot caramel immediately oozed everywhere and the half cooked rolls deflated like balloons after the party.

In my experience swearing does not help situations like this but I guess I am Irish enough that it is my first profusive response. The second response is the thrifty frau channeling directly from Gramma Pike. I grab a wide spatula and scoop the rolls back into the pan, upside down, thanking myself for having cleaned the floor last night! Of course a LOT if caramel and most of the pecans are lost in the process. Christian lamented with a smile revealing his lack of sincerity that this batch could surely not be distributed to the anchorage. Well yes. We would simply have to eat the pan of ruined rolls ourselves.

They were delicious.

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Photos

Gramma Pike's Rolls
You start these around noon and bake them the following morning. They are best if not upended on the floor in the process.

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Great looking rolls
Sounds like you are on a nice trip.