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Showing posts from February, 2008

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The Pioneer Woman Cooks Apple Dumplings Now, I don't really care about apple dumplings much but she had me at the can of Mountain Dew. I am a sucker for those sorts of recipes. I know it's a weakness, a failing ... right up there with my love of (Velveeta) ... but I can't help it! Inspector Chen, Shanghai Gourmet World Foodie Guide has a good overview of this mystery series' focus on food. I can't remember but I think I may have tried Death of a Red Heroine ... perhaps if I try the second book in the series, when the food writing really gets going ... Kids Make Butter Slow Cook , one of my cooking blog finds of last year, has been running an occasional series about teaching kids to cook. This was a rather nostalgic read for me as my mother used to make butter for the household. Granted she did it using our KitchenAid mixer instead of a whisk, but the principle is the same.

Lagniappe from Russia

A tidbit from the book that made me think Russian cooking could be interesting (found at Borders for $10), read to you over at Forgotten Classics .

On Adding Sugar to Quick Breads

Tonia mentioned in the comments box for James Beard's Cream Biscuits : I'm making these biscuits tonight, sans sugar. It seems people from outside the south think sugar should go in all quick breads -- cornbread and biscuits. I wonder why that is. I plan to omit the sugar in this recipe, despite my admiration for Beard. I did want to mention that James Beard never lived in the South. He was a West Coast boy and then lived in New York for a large part of his life. As to the whole "Southerners adding sugar to quick breads" I beg to differ. My mother always made a sweet, cake-like cornbread, having been raised in Ohio. It not only had a lot of sugar, but also a lot of white flour. I loved it, not knowing any better. However, when I got to Texas I found the cornbread I truly fell in love with ... no sugar and just a touch of white flour so that the "cornmeal" taste comes through clearly, as exemplified in this Skillet Cornbread . This is one of the criteria our

Fragrant Vietnamese Chicken-Noodle Soup

Yes, I used Jim Fobel's Big Flavors this week as my main source. What can I say? Big flavors grab me. This takes more time than you would think, due to the many fresh ingredients that need preparation. However, it is all very simple. Just don't do what I did and walk into the kitchen 45 minutes before you plan on serving dinner, only to see that the chicken should be marinated for 1-2 hours ... and then grilled or broiled. Guess what? It did just dandy with 1/2 hour of marinating. My recipe notes: I added basil, which makes it the spitting image of my favorite bowl of soup at our local Vietnamese restaurant. I didn't have the thin rice sticks called for but, rather, broad rice noodles. They made for a bit more difficult eating perhaps, but worked perfectly well. Not wanting to deal with grilling or broiling at the moment, I simply sauteed the chicken in the pot I later used for the soup. I always use limes with this. Not only does it seem more authentic to me, but I like l

Green Beans with Spicy Beef Sauce

Yet another fantastic recipe from Jim Fobel's Big Flavors . Fobel says in the head notes that he makes this ahead of time and then reheats it to get the fullest flavor. I made it and we ate it, with no stops in between and it was delicious. Now, due to unexpected shortages in my kitchen I made a couple of revisions and mistakes ... it still came out wonderfully. In fact, this could be called a lesson in both forgiving recipes and adaptation on the fly. Remember, you don't have to use a wok. A large frying pan will also work. The higher the edges, the better. It calls for 2 pounds of green beans. I forgot that I had to have two pounds of beans for this and used one pound of beans earlier in the week. Oops. The green beans should be fresh but I used frozen haricots verts. I figured I probably could do without the browning called for but thought I'd give it a try. I quickly tipped them in and covered the wok to avoid the worst of the spattering. To my amazement, they

A Quick Loot at 5 Books and 1 Movie ...

... can be found over at Happy Catholic .

Turning a Skeptical Eye Toward Everyone's Favorite Target: Fast Food

Super Size Me was the most popular documentary of the year, and was nominated for an academy award. Its claims were generally accepted without critique by nearly everyone who watched it or even just heard about it. But this result was virtually guaranteed by Spurlock's choice of subject matter. McDonald's is probably the world's easiest target. It's always popular to be anticorporate; it's always popular to bash fast foods, and audiences are generally well predisposed to welcome any information that supports these concepts. ... You see, Morgan Spurlock is not the only person to have ever tested fast-food-only diets, or even McDonald's-only diets. After his movie came out, many people repeated his experiment themselves, including a number of scientific institutions that applied controls and conducted the research in a scientific manner. At least three other documentary movies were made, Bowling for Morgan, Portion Size Me, and Me and Mickey D, in which the

Hot Links Comin' Up

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Spring Time Cookies Kuidaore has some of the most gorgeously decorated cookies. Go take a look, whether for inspiration, just to admire, or to sign up for her class! Authentic Chicken Fried Steak? You might be better off making it yourself , the Dallas Morning News food section says. And they show how. Caldo de Pollo I meant to put this link up a while back but better late than never, right? Dallas chefs share treasured recipes for chicken soup as found in Mexican home kitchens. Largest Beef Recall in History is a Natural Consequence of Industrial Agricultural Practices Barbara at Tigers & Strawberries has a thoughtful post about this, with which I am in full agreement. Bittman Blogs Mark Bittman recently began blogging . He has been writing about everything from debunking kitchen myths to types of rice to giving fried fish recipes.

Turkey Curry in a Hurry

This is from The Best Make-Ahead Recipe by the Cook's Illustrated folks. I actually did roast a turkey and make this from the leftovers, along with some Turkey Tetrazzini, and many delicious turkey sandwiches. As well, before popping the bird in the oven, I cut off the wings and simmered them in some water with the neck, thereby also getting about 4 cups of turkey stock out of the deal. We tend to forget that not only does the price-per-pound go down on a whole turkey (or chicken) but there are many benefits to having the various bits to use in other ways. At any rate, I didn't do a lot of what they wanted. For example, I didn't roast potatoes and carrots with my turkey, some of which to use in this curry. We wanted mashed potatoes and I'm not a cooked carrot fan. So that was out. I didn't have any raisins. It was still delicious. I forgot to buy cilantro. It was still delicious. Anyway, you get the idea. This is a good base curry recipe for all sorts of variations

Rarely Have I Updated Thee, Little Blog ...

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Judging from the inactivity around here, you wouldn't think that I have stacks of things to say about food and cooking. Yet I do have stacks and stacks. I vow that I will try to be a bit more regular in passing these goodies on to y'all. First, let's all sit down with Duane Keiser, to Tea and a Sunbeam .