On Being Your Own Bullpen

Baseball metaphors are not really a normal thing for me but it is October and I live under fifteen miles from two major league ballparks. For those of you who don't know, the bullpen is the group of relief pitchers, who come in to relieve the starter when either the starter is too tired to finish the game or the game's not going well. Essentially the bullpen is a baseball team's plan B.

Last night I was attempting to make braciole and it became obvious mid-course---somewhere around inning 5, to continue the metaphor---that it wasn't going to work out. I'd rolled them improperly and they were going to be overdone on the outside and raw on the inside. So I unrolled them and made a quick red wine and beef stock braising liquid in which to simmer the disassembled meat (thin sliced eye of round) and filling (onion, garlic and some herbs). The end result wasn't amazing but it did keep dinner alive.

Especially when you're experimenting (aka "hacking") you have to have the ability to come up with a plan B.