There are certain foodstuffs that require a very high time investment to make. In general, dinners that require me to schedule time on my calendar are less likely to happen. For example? Raviolis.
The solution: Economies of scale. If you make a HUGE HEAP of raviolis all at once it is entirely worth it. Jen and I have developed a good system: I make and roll the dough, Jen stuffs and seals the raviolis. We then lay the raviolis out in sheets and freeze for later. It’s perfect!
Except that freezer space becomes challenging when you have 200+ raviolis that need freezing because you can’t stack unfrozen raviolis; they stick together. A few weekends ago I built a ravioli apartment complex for the freezer. It accommodates up to 6 stories of raviolis, each of which holds approximately 62 raviolis.
Economies of scale has never been so delicious.
This is genius! I have the same issue when I make Chinese dumplings on a mass scale, and this would solve the problem beautifully. Am I being totally nosy if I ask what you made it of? I can feel a project looming in my future. :)
Mika! Yes! actually, we will likely use this for our dumpling adventures too, though I think I’ll have to widen the ‘floors’ of the ravioli complex. I took sheets of thin plywood, cut them to fit the freezer, and then casually taped parchment paper to surround them in their entirety.
Then I cut one inch dowels to use as legs. For dumplings I think I’d recommend 1.5inch. I screwed each leg into the board with small wood screws. This also perminantly attaches the parchment so you can remove the tape.
Does that make sense? It was pretty quick to do, and I’m pleased with the result.
Not only does this make sense, it seems like something I might actually be able to do! And it’s a fix for my most dreaded part of the dumpling process, technically known as “freezing without squishing.” I will report back to you when I have created a Jiaozi Apartment Complex, and will take into account the height issue (although I usually just cave and use wonton wrappers, which I think would work well with 1″ height). I see mountains and mountains of jiaozi in my future! :-)