We had half of a Tres Leches Cake base in the freezer and I had a brainstorm about soaking the cake in Egg Nog instead of with the usual three milks which gives the cake its name. I put the cake on a sheet of aluminum foil inside a baking pan, and folded up the Read More …
This recipe makes enough egg nog to soak half a 9 x 13 inch cake. It is adapted from Texas Home Cooking. Egg Nog (with cooked eggs) is essentially a thin custard, and the key issue with all custards is not to get the mixture too hot since you do not want to create sweet Read More …
An American classic is the version of bean soup which has been served at the US Senate cafeteria for more than a century. This version is based on a recipe in Cook’s Country Eats Local as adapted to one of the principles of peasant cooking – use what you have! Thus I used pinto vs. Read More …
Before there was Buttermilk-Brined Roast Turkey, there was the same idea with chicken, as introduced by Samin Nosrat in her book Salt Fat Acid Heat. This was easy to do, and like the turkey, was very good – moist and flavorful. A key point is always to avoid overcooking poultry. I used a temperature probe Read More …
I was assigned to bake two piece for this year’s Thanksgiving dinner. For one I made Cane Sugar Pecan Pie . For the other, I decided to make a cherry pie and to follow a recipe in Bernard Clayton’s The Complete Book of Pastry: Sweet & Savory. It turned out well. Pie dough for a Read More …
A signature dish in Samin Nosrat’s cookbook Salt Fat Acid Heat is Buttermilk-Marinated Roast Chicken. In the run up to Thanksgiving, a variation of this recipe for turkey was everywhere, including the New York Times. We used this approach for our small turkey this year, and it turned out very well. Carol was particularly impressed Read More …
This cake from the Fannie Farmer Baking Book has become Carol’s go-to chocolate cake. It is rather complex with a separate pudding-like filling and a buttercream frosting. She most recently made it for Vivie’s birthday.
This is a rather unconventional pie with a filling of graham cracker crumbs, coconut, and pecans bound together with egg whites, and which looks rather like coarse sawdust. It is apparently of Amish origin. I spotted a recipe for it on Epicurious.com, and it looked intriguing. It was not until I was actually making it Read More …
This is half a batch of buttermilk biscuits encasing a browned and split 4 oz. smoked sausage, some grated cheddar, and pickled jalapenos. It was a fairly quick and tasty breakfast
I was looking for a way to use some Italian meatballs in the freezer and hit on the idea of eating them with a sauce based on roasted eggplant. It turned out well, so I am documenting it here. We ate it on top of hummus. Michael Solomonov’s cookbooks are filled with ideas for using Read More …