cakewalk

Care to do it "in public"? I also tried pannettone a few years ago, and while it was okay I know it could have been better. Maybe a pannetone cook-off? The challah is beautiful, as your stuff always is.

I don't have the other dermatological issues, but this happens to me during the winter and it can be very painful. People think I'm crazy when I say this, but I think texting plays a role in this. If my fingers are already dry and brittle, and any pressure on them is going to have an effect. I'm sure the problem must have existed before texting was ever invented (although for me it didn't), but I still think there's a connection. (Not that I'm going to stop texting, of course.)

Beautiful baguettes, great slashes. Did you not feed your starter at all since May? I also just starting "waking up" some starter - but mine was in the freezer. A while ago I threw out my starters. I wasn't baking bread and I got sick of the whole feeding process, so I just dumped them. (White and rye.) But I put some in the freezer. The white starter (bread flour) seems to be waking up nicely, but the rye starter seems to be dead as a doornail. I'll feed it another few days and see what happens. I think the colder weather makes me want to bake bread again.

Never even considered making brioche without butter. Glad someone else has. Leave it to Tartine. I think this loaf looks great: http://elrasbaking.blogspot.com/

Lime and cilantro.

I was also thinking about stuffed cabbage. I made them for the first time last year, using (very loosely) the recipe from the Gourmet cookbook, and it was so good. The combination of lemon juice, brown sugar, and dried tart cherries (Trader Joe's) was great. But my main motivation came from having a lot of V-8 juice left over (long story, and I hate V-8 juice.) I decided to use it instead of the canned tomatoes and juice that was called for. It added to the sweet-sour flavor, and I guess the change in the weather got me to thinking about it again. Time to buy more V-8 juice.

I don't think anyone is making that argument. There are differences of opinion about whether or not one would buy the book and why, not whether or not he should have written it.

And the rest? Particularly the last photo, those muffin-shaped rolls. Beautiful, all of it.

Interesting. I read his articles on Serious Eats sometimes, and I usually find them to be pedantic without being particularly enlightening. So I figure I'd probably feel the same way about the book. But clearly people like different things, it's what makes the world go round.

I'm with Deryn on this. Trifles make beautiful cover-ups. But I'm curious about what might have happened to this cake.

Those photos are beautiful. This is really pushing me beyond the reading recipes stage, where I can linger for a very long time! Salt cod is foreign territory for me, but it looks so luscious. (I don't think I've ever tasted it, but that is easily remedied.) Thanks for that post.

Goodness, isn't this why we all sing the praises of Trader Joe's? Nuts. Chopped and unchopped. Bless their hearts.

Does it matter what type of potato is used, a drier baking potato or a more moist potato? For my first try with salt-cod, I will almost definitely add some potatoes.

There's a nice article and a recipe for Whipped Salt-Cod Spread in today's Serious Eats (Daniel Gritzer). I've been enjoying this thread, trying to work up the nerve to actually buy some salt cod and cook with it. I'll get there.

Last week I was leaving for vacation and I had a few plums left in the fridge (a bit less than a pound). I didn't want to throw them out. So I took a stab in the dark and cut them in half, leaving skins and pits in, threw them in a pot with about half their weight of sugar and a few basil leaves that I also didn't want to throw out. Let it cook to a full boil then simmered for a while, added some lemon juice, strained out the skins, pits, and basil, and ended up with four-ounce jar of jelly. Went away for a week, came back last night and had some on crackers. I was surprised at how good it is. (And just about everything I know about canning I learned from this thread. So thank you.)

Are you my sister?

Yes, the tin and the shopping bag really caught my eye as well, they're very nice. I've bought myself quite a few useless food gifts over the years.

If I go to the Union Square Greenmarket, I always get my stuff at Stokes Farm. I've found that just about all their stuff tends to be very good, their tomatoes are delicious, and I especially love their herbs. After having been burned many times at other vendors at Union Square, I finally discovered that Stokes Farms is consistently good. I wish they were there more than just Saturdays, but I'll take what I can get. (I haven't canned any of their tomatoes because I just eat them.)

I don't think you'll get the maximum "fluff" that you're looking for in the creaming method. Confectioner's sugar won't beat as much air into the butter as granulated sugar will. (Scientific explanations are not my thing, but I think that's the gist of it.) MisterKrazee is right as well. One cup of granulated sugar is 200 grams. One cup of confectioner's sugar is 125 grams.

Yes, please. I'm so glad you bumped this up. I'm going to Italy the first week in October. The trip is only a week, I'll be in Rome 4 days and Venice 3 days. First time in Italy. So reading this is a treat. Thank you!

A few years ago I was visiting people in Atlanta. We went out for breakfast, and the restaurant placed a jam pot on the table. The jam was delicious, but I couldn't identify the flavor. A little grapey, but not really grape. So I asked what it was and the waiter said, "scuppernong," and I said, "excuse me?" I had never heard of this before. When I got back to Yankee territory I looked it up on-line and ordered Scuppernong jam and "wine" (non-alcoholic). I forget where I ordered it from, but it was quite awful. The jam was unpleasantly musky without much actual flavor, and the wine was way too sweet, almost total sugar. But I still remember the jam in that restaurant. Good stuff, this scuppernong.

Not a preserve, but Concord grapes always make me think of Patricia Wells' Winemaker's Grape Cake. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/winemakers-grape-cake-104222 My only change: she suggests leaving in the seeds for "crunch." I did that the first time I made this cake, but will never make that mistake again! It's a pain in the neck, but I strongly suggest removing the seeds. You can also use other types of grapes (or even raspberries or blueberries), but I really love this cake with the Concord grapes. I also found this video of Patricia Wells and Martha Stewart making this cake (with different grapes), which I had never seen before: http://www.marthastewart.com/990565/patricia-wells-provincial-grape-cake

Marcy Goldman's Majestic and Moist New Year's Honey Cake. It's in the oven. Gotta get a head start on the holiday. Still the best honey cake I've ever tasted, by far.

I go bonkers when recipes call for flour in grams and then say "1/2 cup sliced apples" or something like that. That Modern Encyclopedia does sound fascinating. Do you find it informative still for our times, and not just those times? (Other than the game section, which of course still might be helpful to many.)

It's the hospitality industry. You don't get to choose your customers. You still have to please all of them, even if they're not like you. It seems that either you have to change the tastes of the "older crowd" or you have to change your attitude toward them. I'm not sure which is less likely to happen.