cakewalk

Well this was quite a walk down memory lane. Great first post! Welcome and Happy Passover.

Will you concentrate on cakes only, or do you plan to include breads as well? Good luck with this venture. (I have no advice to offer, but I'm looking forward to seeing the videos!)

Interesting. I love coffee, and I even like the coffee/chocolate combination. However, I never add coffee to chocolate to "enhance" the chocolate flavor, which is something I read all over the place. I wonder how that one got started. I have never felt that coffee "enhances" the chocolate flavor of anything. It will make it mocha flavored, which is nice if that's what you want. But if I want a fully chocolate flavored anything, I would never add coffee to it. Agreed about allrecipes. That's an "enter at your own risk" site.

He is very highly regarded, but I have to say: I took a class with him at ICE a while ago. It was hands-down the worst class I ever took in my life. I was so furious. An absolute cash cow. I have no doubt about his expertise. But he ain't no teacher!

Well, I finally put the dish together. I always think stew-like photos look gross, this one included, but I figured I'd post it anyway. The recipe itself is quite simple, most of the time and energy goes into making the tamarind paste, which is what you see in the jar. This recipe uses only 1 tablespoon of the paste, and it does add a nice tart element to the dish. But between you and me, I think it would be just as nice with pomegranate molasses. It would have a different flavor profile, but I think it would go well with the cherries. I also added some freshly ground mahleb, because I knew I had some of those kernels somewhere. The only quibble I have with the recipe (and myself, for following along) is that once the sauce is put together it says to add the meatballs (which are already cooked) and cook for about an hour, until the sauce thickens. Even when I read it I thought it sounded wrong, but I did it anyway. The meatballs are overcooked. If I make it again, and I think I will, I'd cook the sauce until it thickens and then add the meatballs until they're warmed through. Also, the recipe does not call for any salt. Surprisingly enough, I didn't feel it was missing. It's nice on rice, but I think it would be really nice on extra-wide egg noodles. That may not follow along thematically, but I think it would be good that way. Thanks for the thread, and for giving me the oomph to do this. I learned a lot.

That brings back memories! I never saw persimmons until I moved to Israel, and when I first saw them in the market I thought they were some type of tomato. When they are ripe and soft and sweet, there's nothing like them. So I would just eat them out of hand. I remember once making a persimmon loaf (there are recipes floating around), but it was a disappointment. I remember that the batter was very good, but the cake itself didn't do justice to the fruit, it just tasted like a spice cake. It might have been the recipe, but I suspect any cake would fall short of having the full flavor of the fruit. But it might do well in puddings. Or maybe a persimmon curd. I wonder if that might work?

Multigrain loaf from Thomas Keller's Bouchon book. I've made this before, but this time I left out the yeast. (Deliberately.) I added more starter than called for, since this is a heavy loaf that includes a soaker of oatmeal, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, quinoa and other stuff I can't remember. It also ended up sitting in the fridge for two days, which I supposed didn't hurt. It's a very nice loaf. I overdid it a little with the starter, but still very nice without the yeast.

sartoric: The carrot cake in the link you gave doesn't look like it rose all that much either. The issue might not be the type of flour used, but the amount. One cup seems like a small amount of flour given the proportions of the other items. I think it's why your cake seems fudgy rather than cakey, and didn't have much of a rise. But it does look good, and if you liked it, here's to another slice!

Slowly but surely. The tamarind will soak overnight, and tomorrow I hope to make the tamarind concentrate. This is the bulk of the work. The meatballs are done. They're just ground beef, pine nuts, and allspice - no eggs, no bread crumbs, etc. Soon it will all be put together. The tamarind is a trip!

I figure I've been eating fritatas long before I ever heard the word, and most of us probably have as well. Leftovers? Eggs? Hmmm, dinner. Or lunch. Or breakfast.

I just tried to find it in Carol Field's The Italian Baker, and I don't see it. That's not definitive, of course, but I would have expected to find it there.

A few years ago, when I was first introduced to pomegranate molasses, I read a lot about fesenjan. I very much wanted to make some. But the recipes varied so widely in terms of ingredients and cooking time and method that I sort of backed away from it, and then forgot about it altogether. Maybe it's time to just close my eyes and choose one. Thanks for this reminder.

Not just pomegranates. I see everything, all the time, with no relation to season. Maybe they're not available in California because they send them to the rest of the States, and so only have enough there to be sold in-season. With the exception of fresh cherries and particular types of grapes, I can't think of any fruit that I don't see year-round. I know that many people see that as being wonderful, but I usually find it to be distressing.

There's a real learning curve here for me. I found the sweet tamarind first because it was the only one they had in the store. After doing some reading, I realized it was the wrong type of tamarind. But it is very good on its own. You can definitely taste the sourness, but it's also sweet and very pleasant. I found the sour tamarind today, but haven't opened it yet. I have been unable to find the blocks of tamarind already shelled and compressed together. I'm looking forward to making the meatballs, but I'm particularly looking forward to working with the tamarind.

Or do them again and again and again and again until, somehow, you don't.

Not sure what Anthony Bourdain has to do with this. I think the response was precisely "meant to mean that the OP was uniquely hung up on what breakfast food is." I do not see that anywhere in the OP's post.

Wise advice. (And not just for cooking.)

Smoothies can make a nice breakfast, especially in the summer. Fresh fruit can add good fiber to a diet. I don't eat pork either (for different reasons, although I do love my eggs), but fish (either fresh or smoked or fish cakes) could be a good protein substitute. It's hard when someone doesn't like to try new things, but the old things are no longer a possibility. I don't see where the OP is "hung up" on anything.

Their raspberries are starting to be just like the strawberries. Last box I bought was filled with big, beautiful berries that tasted of nothing. (And I sent Driscoll a note informing them of such; no response.)

During the summer I was working on the upper west side, and Symphony Space was having a book sale. Used books in boxes all over the place, by subject. I was looking through the children's books and came across an issue of Lucky Peach with all the cut outs and lift the flaps that you mention. I told the salesperson that it wasn't a kid's book, but belonged in the cooking section. A few days later I went back (it was a favorite lunchtime haunt) and Lucky Peach was back in the children's section. I should have bought it, I think it was 2 bucks or thereabouts.

Hamantaschen. (Or oznei haman.) On the left is vanilla flavored dough with blackberry jam, on the right is orange flavored dough with apricot jam. The dough came out great, nice and crunchy.

I don't remember Biba Caggiano, but I really liked Daisy Martinez, she had a good show on TV. I have her book, haven't used it in quite a while. This was my introduction to sofrito.

I think that was an old John Belushi trick.

I'm wondering if "brownies" are different in Australia than in the States. What's a standard brownie like there? It may have different characteristics than the classic American brownie, which is usually on the fudgy side and very chocolatey.

Also looks like way too much flour for a brownie recipe, which typically has about 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour. Most "classic" brownie recipes use unsweetened chocolate. There are many that use bittersweet and some that particularly use cocoa, but the combination seems odd. Not sure what you can do to save them. I'd treat it like a chocolate cake that came out too dry - maybe brush it with a simple syrup, flavored if you like - and/or frost it. I would not try to "fix" that recipe. If you want to make brownies again, a new recipe seems to be called for.