Here’s a nice Danish-style pastry dough that works as well for coffee cakes as it does for Danishes. And mark my words, this tastes as close to the real thing as we can get in the States. A mighty viking woman I once had the honor of knowing (until, sadly, she died two years ago) […]
READ ONThose of you who’ve made pastry cream before will likely recognize this process, for indeed the steps are almost identical — especially since I’m making vanilla bean instead of peach (what can I say, I waited too long and they rotted…oh well!). Start by splitting your vanilla bean in twain like so: Scrape out the […]
READ ONOne of the great early ice cream lovers, at least according to legend, was the Roman emperor Nero. He was said to have sent fleet-footed slaves high into the Apennines to fetch quantities of snow, which his cooks would combine with honey and other flavorings for the enjoyment of all his guests. Obviously this wasn’t […]
READ ONSorry no pictures on this (yet). This is a good idea for using up old leftover bread starter. Reader Kristin suggests: Thin your starter with a little cold water, salt to taste, and use as batter to coat onion rings (dredge rings in flour first.) Deep-fry until deep golden brown, drain and salt again. Just […]
READ ONSo what would you get if you took some very eggy, buttery brioche, cut it thick, dipped it in a custard of eggs, cream and sugar, fried it up in butter and served it dusted with powdered sugar? One mighty happy family is what. Talk about a breakfast worth climbing out of the rack for, […]
READ ONThe same basic rules for peach pie apply to all double-crust fruit pies. For double-crust pies are made by a slightly different method than open-faced pies. Unlike open-faced pies, double-crust pie crusts are not “blind”-baked (i.e. partially baked without the filling inside). Thus extra measures have to be taken to prevent the bottom crust from […]
READ ONunny how so many innovations in food preservation can be traced to armed conflict. But it’s no wonder why. Une armée marche à son estomac, as Napoleon famously said. A large force sitting still will consume every edible resource within reach in two days’ time. Historically, keeping such an army from starving has required either long supply lines or on-the-go, off-the-land foraging. But there are drawbacks to each. Long supply lines make easy targets for the enemy (see Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow), and foraging has a way of ruining civilian morale (ask anyone in the South about Sherman’s March to the Sea…150 years later at they’re still P.O.’d about it). But if you can take your supplies with you, you have a tremendous strategic and tactical advantage.
READ ONAh, ze éclair…si simple, si marveilleuse. I feel like eating one right now. Oh, right, I just did. But with all my prepared shells, pastry cream and ganache on-hand, there’s plenty more where that came from, n’est-ce pas? So what am I waiting for? I start by filling a pastry bag with pastry cream and […]
READ ONSay it with me. A quiche is not a pie. A quiche is not a pie. A quiche is not a pie. A real quiche is round, flat and with squared corners. None of this American slope-sided pie-plate stuff. That’s not Euro-food elitism talking, it’s simple science. A flat, cylindrical shape heats far more evenly, […]
READ ONWhich works fine for me, I’ll have their helping. Quiche is one of those things that when done well, sings like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The problem that real men have with quiche is that it’s been mostly presented to them in foil pie plates on block party buffet tables. You know the stuff I […]
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