I had a friend who said, you are only cheating when you are caught! Now, that is quite a statement but is it correct. And is cheating the same as pregnancy – you either are or you are not, or can one say there are degrees of cheating? In sport there seems to be all sorts of cheating, and the only way people know you are cheating is when you are caught. Sportsmen take drugs – we call them performance enhancing if they are cheating. But what about the rugby player who has a broken foot and is injected with a legal pain killer so that he can play. Is this not performance enhancing? And what of the motor sport team that uses funny fuel – only if it is tested will they be caught out. And then we have the case of the swimmers who use special suits and the cyclists who use other people’s blood. The list is endless. But what of cheating in the food industry. I know of a case where recipe ‘A’ called for figs to be cooked and then drizzled with the sponsors product. Then another person, after seeing this recipe, entered hers. Recipe ‘B’ differed only in that her figs were raw. Turns out, her recipe made it to the finals and recipe ‘A’ did not. Not surprising, the person who entered recipe ‘A’ has never purchased the sponsors product again. Another example is where ordinary food bloggers entered a competition and the person who won was a professional cook and used photography tricks to win! Some food bloggers are now boycotting that magazine. I know of another case of cheating where a recipe book has been published using recipes taken from magazines, with no acknowledgement – surely that is cheating! Or what about me, I cheat when making apple sauce. I could not be bothered with fresh apples and so I make use of tinned pie apples – they are ready for sauce making and cut back on time. So, is this cheating?
Apple Sauce
Ingredients
- 385 g tinned, unsweetened pie apples
- 75 mls Brandy
- 10 mls honey
- 55 g butter
- 1.25 mls ground cinnamon
- 1.25 mls whole cloves
- 1 twist freshly ground black pepper
- 5 mls lemon juice
Method
- add all the ingredients except the lemon juice into a heavy bottomed sauce pan
- cover and cook over a low heat for 1 hour
- pass through a chinois
- add the lemon juice and store in sterilized glass jars
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
Maybe it’s only cheating if someone else gets hurt? In this case, your apple sauce is beautifully honest, and honestly beautiful. 🙂
what lovely words Celia, thank you 🙂
Nope, you are not cheating. Your lovely recipe merely calls for using tinned pie apples.
🙂 Mandy
I changed it to pie apples 🙂
No – not cheating. You have explained what you used in a lovely recipe. Do hope some of those examples were not from personal experience 🙁
sadly, the one is from personal experience – but such is life 🙂
I tried to leave a comment as Sous Chef and it wouldn’t take my log in! I have got so much to learn. Thankfully I did blog on WP in that For The Love of Wine comp so I was able to put my avatar up and do a post.
There’s cheating and there’s cheating, your sauce is not cheating in fact it’s a damn fine idea that I am going to pinch 🙂
please pinch it! I wonder when the Taste blogs are going to move?
Sounds good to me, Tandy. Tinned pie apples have so many uses. 😉 xxx
I use them quite often Sylvia 🙂
Your recipe is hardly cheating…in fact, is sounds so good, I’m going to definitely make it..full credit to you!!
I never used them, so I cannot say whether it’s cheating 😉 Sounds good and easy!
it is super easy 🙂
If you make it and it tastes good, that’s all that matters. Just don’t enter it in the county fair and say you grew the apples.
thankfully we don’t have country fairs here – but we do live in apple growing country 🙂
Have you ever taken the time to cut apples in the appropriate slices for making applesauce? It takes forever, even when you use an apple corer. Looks tasty to me.
I cannot see the point of doing all that hard work! But, I do it for the tarte tatin’s with pleasure 🙂
Oooh, I like Celia’s take on it. It looks honestly beautiful to me, Tandy.
thanks so much Kate 🙂
No, definitely not cheating!
thanks sweetie 🙂
Hi, this is exactly what I need. Cut down on prep time and work, still 100% wholesome for my preschooler. Question, do I need to add the water in the can or only the apple slices?
Only the apple slices.