in a recent blog...

... reference was made to that old, but still amusing joke ending with the punchline of : How do it know? If you need a bit of reminding/backstory: there was this group of guys sitting around the work place eating lunch, talking about the greatest invention of the twentieth century (this in itself should indicate how long ago I heard the joke!) There were several suggestions made, and one guy said he was certain it would be the thermos in his lunch box. When questioned, by the other guys who thought his answer profoundly lame and simple-minded, his response is that the thermos has the remarkable ability to keep hot things hot, and cold things cold: How do it know?

I've been cooking for ... hmmm, all my life? A long time. Probably since about  ten years old. You eventually pick up lots of shortcuts and tricks, things that once you know them: you think everyone does. Simple things that people do in the kitchen when they need some item they don't have on hand, but have learned that a 'this' will do just as well as a 'that' as called for in the recipe. For example: if your ingredients list includes a cup of buttermilk, and you don't want to buy a quart to throw out three-forths later, you can add a bit of vinegar or lemon juice to sweet milk to make it sour and use in the cornbread recipe.

So the question is: how come, when I added the cream to the vinegar it did not get nasty. If the adding of the acid to the sweet milk turns it sour, why didn't the same thing happen with the recipe for the cream sauce I was stirring up to put on the asparagus at the cooking demo. yesterday?

Here's the recipe from the Publix Aprons Simple Meals website:
1 shallot finely chopped
2 lb. fresh asparagus
3 T. water, divided
3 T. sherry vinegar
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 T. unsalted butter
1 T. whole grain Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Chop shallot. Trim asparagus. Place asparagus and 1 T. water in micro-safe bowl, cover. Microwave for 3-4 minutes until tender.
Preheat large saute pan on medium for 2-3 min. Place shallot, sherry, and remaining 2 T water in pan, simmer 3-4 min. until liquid has been reduced by about one-half.
Stir in cream, butter, mustard, salt, pepper until thickened. Place asparagus on serving platter and drizzle with sauce. Serve immediately.

It's so good, if you like asparagus, I could have eaten the whole thing. Fortunately there were too many people watching, to say nothing of wanting to taste it for themselves, they kept me from doing something I would regret. But the question is: How do it know? Why did the sauce not separate when the cream went into the vinegar? Does diluting/cooking down make the difference? Hmmmmm...