I know, like apples. And here I am making a pear tart in July. Shame on me. Not very organo-seasonal-local (loco?) of me. Oh well. If it makes any difference, it’s early winter for my readers in the Southern Hemisphere, which is where the pears came from. So think of this pear tart as seasonal […]
READ ONThis from reader Arma Benoit, a passionate croissant baker, about the flour posts from two weeks back: Hey Joe- I was looking up info on getting French flour here in the States. It’s been hell trying to make a decent croissant. Anyway, I actually found some stuff called B & D Flour. Apparently, the dude […]
READ ONWhen setting out to make a tart the French way (and most pastry chefs do) you’ve got two basic choices in dough: pâte brisée or “short dough“ and pâte sucrée, or “sweet dough”. Sweet dough is both richer and sweeter than short dough, which means it’s more tender, but it’s still firm enough to hold […]
READ ONThis one was a bit of a tough choice. So much so that I resolve that if I have time, I’ll make two tarts this week. Tarts, not being as thick as pies, are minimalist affairs by definition. So my temptation was to go with something very light filling-wise (so as to let the butter […]
READ ONThere are two schools of thought on the history of tarts. One posits that tarts have evolved out of the “putting things on top of other things” tradition of gastronomy. According to this line of thought, human beings have been putting foodstuffs on top of other foodstuffs — notably round, flat pieces of bread — […]
READ ONSorry to get off-track last week. Still, I hope the pasta posts were useful to some of you. As I mentioned, they bought me some time to get at least a little bit settled into a new job. Frankly, I could use another week (or even two), but as they say, time and tide waits […]
READ ONI should mention here that to my understanding tomato sauces aren’t usually paired with fresh egg pastas. It’s considered something of a no-no in Italian food circles. In my own defense, this isn’t so much a tomato sauce as it is a meat sugo with a little tomato added. Judges? I made this pasta using […]
READ ONBy no means. However there are more than a few purists out there (the majority of them Italian) who turn their noses up at pastas made via mechanical rollers. What difference could that possibly make versus a rolling pin? Well, pasta dough is plastic and malleable. Porous wooden surfaces like pins and boards press a […]
READ ONWhile it may (repeat may) be true that the Chinese were the true originators of the noodle, nowadays most food historians treat the noodle-making of the East and that of the West as entirely separate traditions. I think it’s fair to do so, if only because the materials they’re made from and the manner in […]
READ ON…is pretty much all this is. We’ve had a sparse, late pea season here in Kentucky this year, but man, are the ones we have ever sweet. Blanch two cups of them for two minutes, then immerse them in a cold water bath. Next, heat two tablespoons of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter […]
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