This week’s pizza’s not even out of the oven and I can already tell it’s going to be too bready for the missus. I had misgivings about keeping the overnight dough fermentation step in the process. Cutting the yeast amount down to a 1/4 teaspoon doesn’t really matter if you give it plenty of time […]
READ ONGot an email asking what fondant is. Basically, it’s sugar putty. A soft, all-sugar candy that you can form into various shapes, or roll out into sheets. It can be colored and/or flavored in just about any way you can think of. Cake makers roll it into sheets and drape it over cakes to give […]
READ ONFriday afternoons and work just weren’t meant to go together. Yet I’m having an extremely tough time goofing off. It’s pouring down rain right now in Lousiville, and that put a stop to the Blue Angel practice session that was in action (they’re in town to help kick off the two-week party orgy that is […]
READ ONJelly may make me think of peanut butter, but peanut butter makes me think of Elvis. And I’m not talking about this Elvis, I’m talking about this Elvis. Because let’s face it, peanut butter isn’t exactly diet food, and the King ate more than his share. Mostly in the form of the famous Elvis peanut […]
READ ONIf you’ve never visited the Reese’s cup site and feel like killing a little time, have a look. It’s pretty fun. My wife and I were trying to remember all the different types of Reese’s products that have come out over the years. From crunchy to white to minis to caramel…there’ve really have been a […]
READ ONJust about all it really takes to make peanut butter are peanuts, salt and a grinder. I myself remember when instant peanut butter-making machines were all the rage, back in the 70’s. Just an electric grinder with a hopper full of roasted peanuts on top was all they were. A gift shop in the suburb […]
READ ONWhat makes peanut oil so perfect for cooking? It’s not because of its peanut flavor, which is really very faint. It’s because of its high smoke point. Which is to say, it can be heated to an extemely high temperature (over 450 degrees). An oil’s smoke point is the temperature at which it begins to […]
READ ONPeanuts are members of that great family of agricultural gifts that the New World gave to the old (other notables include corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, beans, sunflowers, chocolate and tobacco). Call ‘em goobers, groundnuts, pinders or monkey nuts, they all bring a smile to your face. What is it about the peanut that it’s […]
READ ONFame-wise, superstar pastry chefs inhabit the same region of the national consciousness as skeet-shooting champions. Joe-Bob who? Somwhere below Latoya Jackson, but above, say, a Supreme Court justice. Yet for what it’s worth, Claudia Fleming of the Grammercy Tavern in New York is one. Her book The Last Course was received to great fanfare a […]
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