Sugar putty, basically. It’s the white chewy stuff that makes up the inside of bonbons, you know what I mean…the “creams”. But then it’s also the semi-transparent liquid stuff that’s inside those runny-in-the-center chewing gums or chocolate covered cherries. However these days when people say “fondant” they mostly mean a cake covering of some sort, […]

Got this message a couple of weeks ago from my good friend Sally C., after I posted that picture of little Josephine’s fuscia birthday cake: Tell me something – does your fondant taste like flavored wax? Every fondant I’ve ever had tastes terrible!! I understand the need for it in things like decorated cakes, but […]

Mixing is arguably the most critical step in the baking process, the one that dictates more than any other what the end product will be. Don’t believe me? Imagine for a moment that you’re observing a baker at a work table. In front of him are indeterminate quantities of flour, fat, sugar, milk and eggs. […]

One thing I forgot to mention is that ammonium carbonate is also a common smelling salt. For those of you who don’t know what smelling salts are, they’re the stuff that Moe used to revive Curly every time a tipped store shelf brought a long succession of jars, canned goods, bottled beer, cast iron skillets, […]

Under construction, off to the right, is a new set of categories called “Joe’s Baking Basics”. They’re an attempt, not unlike “Joe’s How-To’s” to make this site more broadly useful as a reference tool. Much as I enjoy the ephemeral, sweeping nature of the blog format, it’s been pointed out that for those who don’t […]

And if it’s got nice big pieces of bacon baked into it, so much the better. Cornbread would have been one of the standard applications for chemical leaveners back in the day, since the ingredients were both inexpensive and very easy to transport. This recipe is a very sturdy version that calls for a high […]

…he’s probably a quack. That at least is my view of Dr. William Hay, the man who invented the so-called “Hay Diet”, modern versions of which are lumped under the collective name of nutripathy. I bring this up in answer to a question I received over the weekend as to whether the list of acid […]

Most days it’s a fair bet that should the biscuit bug strike, I won’t have any buttermilk hanging around in the fridge (and if I do, it’s usually been hanging around if you follow me). Happily, you don’t really need store-bought buttermilk to make buttermilk biscuits. As I mentioned, there is no real buttermilk around […]

A great cover story on the New York Times food section about fresh dairy products. Suspiciously appropriate once again.