Experiments

    I had around a pound altogether of various old gluten-free flour packages. Some, like the buckwheat flour, were too old when I last dipped in, some time last year. Google searches indicate that buckwheat flour is just as good past the expiration date. This may be true to a certain point. However, six months to a year after the expiration date, just throw it out. It wasn't rancid exactly (or I would have smelled the rancidity and thus wouldn't have used it) but it was awful. Once I started eating the pancakes I made with it, I remembered that that was how it tasted last time, too. Why I didn't throw it out then is beyond me.
    So anyway, yes, experiments. I've been trying making pancakes. The first outing with the buckwheat flour is best forgotten. The second and third, with Trader Joe's all purpose gf flower (old but not past the expiration date) went better. The thing is I can't seem to master the skillet. Or the range or the kitchen. Either the skillet is tilted or the range, or the kitchen floor. The latter wouldn't be a surprise; the whole house seems to be subsiding. So I get a pool of oil (because grease isn't a nice word) at one end of the skillet and the rest of the skillet dries up and burns up. I find this a little worrying. When I run out of flour, I'll probably abandon my pancake making career until I find a better skillet, range or kitchen.
    I've also been trying my hand at gluten-free fried chicken, as I mentioned the other day. That has turned out comically, or at least I haven't died so far. I'm trying again today. This time, I swear I will remember the Colonel's eleven herbs and spices. (That is to say, salt and pepper.) I imagine that might work an improvement. You notice that no recipes are forthcoming. So far, none of my output has been worth saving for posterity. Although today's apple pancakes made it all the way up to "not terrible." Hey, it's a start!