Can Food REALLY Be Sexy? More Like Sticky

I just finished watching a cooking show on modern Irish cooking where the host referred to the dessert he made as "sexy". He wasn't using ingredients that are your traditional aphrodisiac ingredients: chocolate, figs or snails. According to my very brief search "There was not always agreement upon what foods were actually aphrodisiacs or "anaphrodisiacs" (decrease potency).   But the ancient list included Anise, basil, carrot, salvia, gladiolus root, orchid bulbs, pistachio nuts, rocket (arugula), sage, sea fennel, turnips, skink flesh (a type of lizard) and river snails." (Source: Gourmet Sleuth). 

Mmm lizards! I know that would make me feel more drawn to my guy!

Anyhow, I think what makes a dish romantic is cooking a dish that your love enjoys (and hopefully the cook does too). For my guy it's pork chops. A few weeks ago I got a good deal on thick chops which I know my husband likes to eat. Unfortunately I cannot stand pork chops so he gladly enjoyed both chops. I decided to follow a Weight Watchers recipe for pork chops with a cherry sauce. It was a reduction of cherry jam which was a lot of fun to make- I felt like I was challenging myself more than normal. I have a Calphalon  pot/pan set so the sauce did not stick to the pan and I could spoon the sauce nicely over the chops when I put them back in the pan. 

Speaking of jam, I wrote in my last post I would let you know how I make homemade jam. At its essence, jamming is a simple process. However, you have to keep an eye on the pot so it doesn't boil over. If like me, that happens to you, you'll spend part of your evening (if you cook after work and on the weekends like me) cleaning your entire cooktop. Enough about me complaining about cleaning. You only need a few cups of the fruit of your choice, pectin, sugar, and sometimes lemon juice, and your mason jars. This year I tried a gel-like pectin instead of the powder. I think that was part of the reason for the mess later yet I think it made my jam better than last year's batch. 

This year I made raspberry and peach jams. I left the peach pieces in chunkier pieces so it could be spread on pancakes or served with a meat that was complimented by a peach sauce. My raspberries broke down quickly in the cooking process. You may wonder, what kind of sugar should I use? I didn't have the budget to try Sugar in the Raw and didn't think of trying agave syrup or a stevia type sugar until after. However I think if you got the proportions right on the agave or stevia, you could definitely go au natural with your jam.