I cooked Thanksgiving here again this year, and had some great successes by doing a few things a little differently: I mostly boned the turkey and roasted it flat, fiddled with the creamed onions, and figured out how to bake a custard pie without a soggy bottom crust (and perfected a buttermilk pie while I was at it). I just wanted to write up some notes for posterity.
Recommended
Julia Child: The Way to Cook
A little dowdy, but it's a great teaching book.Lynne Rossetto Kasper: The Splendid Table
For real Italian cooking.Tish Boyle: The Good Cookie
You can never have too many cookie recipes.Francois Payard: Simply Sensational Desserts
One of my go-to books for special occasion desserts. Also has the very best recipe for tarte au citron (and I've tried a lot of them).Hilaire Walden: Sensational Preserves
Whenever I need inspiration for something new to seal in jars, I turn to Hilaire.Edon Waycott: Preserving the Taste
Wonderful recipes for my canning habit.Rick Bayless: Mexico One Plate At A Time
I'd like to thank this book for helping me to win my husband's heart. (Tamales made easy.)Anne Willan: La Varenne Pratique
This book is my culinary school.Irma S. Rombauer: Joy of Cooking
I use an older version, before it was stupidly 'modernized'. It's a fine reference for American basics, and the book I always reach for when making biscuits or pancakes.Alice Medrich: Cocolat
I've made a lot of the gorgeous desserts from this book, but I also turn to the section on component recipes for when I'm inventing.Michael Ruhlman: Charcuterie
Fun with pork.Patricia Wells: Bistro Cooking
If I could only have one cookbook, this would be it.Terrance Brennan: Artisanal Cooking
I love Brennan's straightforward approach to fine cooking.
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November 2009
November 28, 2009
November 22, 2009
Chestnut Rum Jam
‘Jam’ is really something of a misnomer for this seductive purée. It may be perfectly delicious on toast – I wouldn't know. I prefer to treat it as a sort of luxe dessert ingredient (when I'm not eating it straight from the jar). Plainly spooned over best vanilla ice cream, it shows just how exotic ‘simple’ can be. Blended into whipped cream, buttercream, or dense chocolate ganache, it becomes a decadent filling or frosting for crepes, tortes, and roulades. Hilaire Walden (my recipe is adapted from hers in Sensational Preserves) suggests layering it with whipped cream in parfait glasses. I'm of a mind to work it into a bavarian cream for a Christmas charlotte.
’Tis the season, of course, and chestnuts are in markets everywhere. Perfect timing, as this jam is a fine thing to have around for the holidays. It even cans well, and put up in fancy jars makes a lovely gift. The recipe follows, along with some useful tips for buying and peeling chestnuts.
November 01, 2009
Garden’s End
It's a melancholy thing, putting the garden to bed. Never mind the heartbreak of hacking back, uprooting, burning, and composting plants that were so lovingly nurtured. I can think of no more poignant herald of the long, cold months to come.
But gardeners are optimists by nature, and no sooner have I finished tearing down a season's effort than I've begun preparing and planning for another round. Maybe it's just a sophisticated form of denial.
