If there were a Homemakers Award system with a Home Baking merit badge, lemon meringue pie would be the final exam. This diner dessert requires mastery of a flaky crust, no-fall meringue, and tempered egg filling. These elements must be managed in quick succession so that they come together for a final bake before...
Read more →After sipping my homemade limoncello last week, I decided I hadn’t had enough of this season’s Meyer lemons. I ordered another half dozen from Green B.E.A.N. delivery. When I opened my box I found not six but eighteen petite yellow lemons. I immediately contacted customer service and offered to return them. The quick response:...
Read more →Seasonal foods are hot and heavy in the spring, summer, and fall as we eat our way through herbs and asparagus to peas and beans to tomatoes and squash. What about winter? Hot houses do produce fresh food in Ohio but there are only so many ways to eat greenhouse-grown lettuces and greens. Even...
Read more →Lil and I made Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s rugelach for a cookie exchange last week. Lil loved rolling peach, blueberry peach, and sour cherry preserves with almonds in the rich butter and cream cheese dough. She even made her own creation, chocolate with no nuts. The recipe is time consuming and made me break up with...
Read more →I don’t know what I was thinking when I signed on to the International Blogger Cookie Exchange 2011. My family eats sweets slowly; cookies, brownies and the like often become stale before we eat a whole batch. I am so grinch-like that I don’t even have a Christmas cookie tradition. But I did sign...
Read more →The eleventh Charcutepalooza challenge is curing. Alex and I have cured and dried many meats including saucisson sec, fermented chorizo, and coppa. I asked my daughter Lillian to complete this challenge with me. She’s been around hanging meat for most of her life. Curing requires minimal skill and can be left for days at...
Read more →I recently mentioned on twitter that having the first meat of the season hanging in the basement made me feel like our house was a home again. Someone (who are you? I can’t find the tweet now!) replied “It’s modern mistletoe!” That got me to thinking about how meat curing is a tasty metaphor...
Read more →Is your Thanksgiving menu finalized? My mother is hosting dinner this year so Alex and I are responsible for very little. We’re bringing a charcuterie platter for the appetizer, brussels sprouts (probably pan roasted with homemade bacon) and Alex’s dressing. If your menu isn’t full of family traditions, here are five suggestions for seasonal...
Read more →Cranberry sauce is the most neglected dish on the Thanksgiving table. It is over-sweetened to the point of tasting like jam, or worse, dumped and sliced from a can, ridge marks remaining. Why should these tart orbs be subjected to such a fate? Cranberries are easy to obtain fresh in November and full of...
Read more →I credit my mother with inspiring our family of cooks. She allowed us to prowl her cookbooks and recipe file. She encouraged us to make food for the family, despite the mess that often ensued. She (and Alex’s mother) started the tradition of experiment cooking. Because of Mom’s encouragement, I started making whole wheat...
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