From 162c8c4295d03c765d62db36c2b5e65d3e2cb501 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jakob Meier Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2024 08:13:55 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] Published: Stealing a pesto recipe I kind of wrote this post ages ago, but forgot to proof read it. So yeah - I didn't backdate it because I can't remember when I wrote it, but probably last summer (6 months late - pure skill) --- content/blog/food/stealing-a-pesto-recipe.org | 169 ++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 169 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/blog/food/stealing-a-pesto-recipe.org diff --git a/content/blog/food/stealing-a-pesto-recipe.org b/content/blog/food/stealing-a-pesto-recipe.org new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7cc5049 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/food/stealing-a-pesto-recipe.org @@ -0,0 +1,169 @@ +#+TITLE: Stealing a pesto recipe +#+DESCRIPTION: I love pesto, and when I found the perfect recipe, I just had to recreate it myself +#+KEYWORDS: food, pesto, recipe +#+OPTIONS: toc:nil num:nil +#+DATE: <2024-02-09 Fri 08:12> + +* Introduction +The first time I ordered at /Freddy Fresh Pizza/ about a year or two ago, +I was unsure what to pick +and ended up just trying to recreate +one of the more typical vegetarian pizzas. +However, after having finished it and looking at the price we paid +(Freddy Fresh charges for additional ingredients) +it occurred to me, +that Freddy's pizza cannot be compared to the Italian ones I'm used to. +So when we ordered takeout again, +I looked through their menu again and chose the =Venedig= pizza. + +=Venedig= is essentially a /Pizza Margherita/, +with sliced tomatoes on it. +But you also get two packs of pesto to put on top of your pizza. +And let me tell you, that is the best pesto I've ever had. + +* Basic ingredients +I recently bought the pizza again, +but this time I noticed +that the label shows percentages for the ingredients. + +So I decided to make a copy and try to replicate it myself. + +#+begin_quote +rapeseed oil, basil 22%, hard cheese 12%, cashews 6%, +olive oil, garlic, salt +#+end_quote + +From the nutrition facts +I've also gathered that their pesto has ~1.8 grams~ of salt per ~100g~. + +I then put all of these values into a table. +Unfortunately, some values are still missing: +The amount of rapeseed oil, olive oil and garlic. +Given that the food labels normally list the ingredients by amount +(descending), +I figured that both olive oil and garlic have to be less than 6%, +but more than 1.8%. +(And yeah, I study computer science, and yes, we do a lot of math) +This means that the rapeseed oil has to be at least 46% +and at most 54% of the pesto. +I then assumed that 50% should be about enough +(as it is easy to calculate and in the middle of these two values). + +This means that the percentages of the olive oil and garlic combined, +should be equal to about 8% (or 8.2%, to be precise). +Because I find it very unlikely for both to take up 4%, +I randomly decided on 5% olive oil and 3% garlic. + +After writing all of this down, +we get the following table:. + +#+begin_src elisp :exports none :results none +(setq ingredients + (list + 'rapeseedoil 0.5 + 'basil 0.22 + 'hardcheese 0.12 + 'cashews 0.06 + 'oliveoil 0.05 + 'garlic 0.03 + 'salt 0.018 + )) +(defun form (x) + (/ (round (* x 100.0)) 100.0)) +#+end_src + +#+begin_src elisp :exports results :results value table +(setq count (/ (length ingredients) 2)) +(setq display (list '("Ingredients" "Amount in %"))) +(dotimes (i count) + (setq name (nth (* i 2) ingredients)) + (setq percent (nth (+ (* i 2) 1) ingredients)) + (setq display (append display (list (list name percent))))) +display +#+end_src + +#+CAPTION: Ingredients and Amount +#+RESULTS: +| Ingredients | Amount in % | +| rapeseedoil | 0.5 | +| basil | 0.22 | +| hardcheese | 0.12 | +| cashews | 0.06 | +| oliveoil | 0.05 | +| garlic | 0.03 | +| salt | 0.018 | + +* Replicating the "recipe" +We grow a lot of herbs in our garden, +and like most years, +our basil plants ended up rarely used, +with a lot of green leaves on them. + +So I decided that making homemade pesto would be the perfect use for them. +However, the pesto that is being served with the pizza +comes in ~40 gram~ packages, +but ~8.8 grams~ of basil is hard to eyeball. +And given that fall is just around the corner, +I decided to harvest all the basil, +with the idea of being able to freeze some of it. +(Which turned out amazing. +I can only recommend silicone ice cube molds) + +After sorting through the produce, and washing it, +the basil weighted in at just about ~80 grams~. + +As I didn't want to waste all of it +(in case my recipe didn't work out), +I decided to take ~40 grams~ of it +and adjust the recipe to fit the amount of basil I had. + +To do so, I wrote a simple Lisp script +/(yes I can make this about programming)/, +to calculate the weight and percentage in relation to the amount of basil. +Some of you might notice that the code is incomplete, +and that is because some of the tables above +were generated using Lisp as well, +and use the same variable definitions. +If you are curious, you can take a look at the source code of this page. + +#+begin_src elisp :exports both :results value table +(defun convert (name basil-amount) + (setq basil-default (plist-get ingredients 'basil)) + (setq item (plist-get ingredients name)) + (/ (* item basil-amount) basil-default) + ) +(setq basil-amount 40) + +(setq reldisplay (list '("Ingredients" "Amount in g" "Amount in %"))) +(dotimes (i count) + (setq name (nth (* i 2) ingredients)) + (setq weight (convert name basil-amount)) + (setq rel (/ weight basil-amount)) + (setq reldisplay (append reldisplay (list (list name (form weight) (form rel)))))) +reldisplay +#+end_src +#+CAPTION: Ingredient amounts relative to the basil weight (assumes 40g) +#+RESULTS: +| Ingredients | Amount in g | Amount in % | +| rapeseedoil | 90.91 | 2.27 | +| basil | 40.0 | 1.0 | +| hardcheese | 21.82 | 0.55 | +| cashews | 10.91 | 0.27 | +| oliveoil | 9.09 | 0.23 | +| garlic | 5.45 | 0.14 | +| salt | 3.27 | 0.08 | + +Either way, +after calculating all of these values, +I got out a measuring cup +and started weighing the ingredients. + +However, I only added about ~3/4~ of the rapeseed oil +before blending the ingredients together, +and added the rest after blending and stirred them together using a fork. + +Afterwards, just leave the pesto for a couple of hours (you don't have to, but it might make it better). +If you made too much, just freeze it in silicone ice cube molds, +and put the frozen cubes on your hot pasta or pizza. + +Enjoy. -- 2.38.5