cakewalk

This thread is a real find, thanks. Paula Wolfert and nightscotsman both! I was also wondering about what type of dry yeast she was using. I haven't made brioche in a long time, but it looks like there'll be some brioche this weekend. I can't remember the recipe I used last time, but I did like it, the texture was silky smooth as a result of long kneading time (in the Kitchen Aid, not by hand). But I am very curious to try Paula Wolfert's recipe, and I will try to Google Gisslen's.

Kosher or not, I agree it's stupid placement. Almost everything in most NYC supermarkets is marked kosher, it doesn't end up in the separate "kosher" section. If someone was looking for ham glaze, that's probably not the first place they'd seek it. I get a good laugh around Passover time when my supermarket has a separate section for Passover products, and they always include the leftover Hamentaschen from Purim. Every year.

Don't know if this has been mentioned upthread, but whatever scale you get, make sure it takes normal, easy to find batteries like AAAs or something like that. My first scale used some sort of strange battery, and when it ran out I was unable to replace it. Had to get another scale.

Well I think it all depends on what shape they're broken into. If they're broken into triangles, little squares, and/or rectangles, they can present a very artistic alternative to a platter of crackers that all have the same boring shape. But if they're broken into little itsy bitsy crumby crumbs, then obviously they have no use. Unless, of course, you use them as crumbs. That is always an option.

Is there a proper way to wash a potato, and, if so, what is it? I'd say: scrub until the dirt's gone. End of story. Keep your pinkies in the air while scrubbing.

Where are you located? If you're in NY, there's a place on 9th Ave between 40th & 41st Streets that may fit the bill. I get coarse and fine semolina there. I've never looked for a medium grind, but they might have it. It's a nice place, they have a lot of stuff. http://internationalgrocerynyc.com/

These might be helpful: http://bravetart.com/recipes/IceCreamSandwichWafers I've been meaning to make them for ages but never get around to it. I think she's right on the money about the soft wafer for an ice cream sandwich, not a crisp cookie-like wafer.

Great photos, really took me back. I lived in Jerusalem for about 20 years. Very nice to hear you say the streets are clean, because that never used to be the case! The Jerusalem bagels (or "bageleh") were among my favorite things, especially when they were still hot. They were covered in sesame seeds and the vendor would give you a bit of zatar folded up in a piece of newspaper. The smell (not to mention the taste) of the fresh bread, sesame seeds, and zatar was simply heavenly. Thanks for the nice write up and photos.

The thread is about not understanding why people buy certain things. The implication in many responses is that people "should" make their own rather than buy ready-made. I don't understand why people do a lot of things, but I'd rather learn their reasons than disparage their choices. I might not be swayed to their way of doing things, but I'll have a different level of understanding. For years I thought it was crazy that supermarkets were selling packages of pre-chopped vegetables. Now that I'm older and arthritis is slowly creeping in, I understand much better. Sometimes we're too quick to judge.

I don't understand the point here. (Or in a lot of other posts in this thread. Or maybe the thread in its entirety.) Are you really saying that if it doesn't take you a long time to make stock, then you simply can't understand why other people don't make their own stock as well? I can't accept that, at least considering how I make stock. Let's see, first I have to get the stock pot, which, because of its size is not handy in the kitchen. Then, vegetables have to be cleaned and cut. The stock has to be watched and skimmed, at least in the early stages. After draining and straining, the debris has to be composted, the pot cleaned and put away, and the stock put into containers and refrigerated. At some point the fat needs to be skimmed off and dealt with. And lets not forget cleaning the prep tools such as knives and cutting boards. For me, that's a lot more than ten minutes of my time. It's a lot closer to an hour by my rough estimate. And then there's the cost of energy for heating and cooking the stock, heating the wash water or running the dishwasher ... and my time for all this has some value. There's a time and place for prepared stock, or prepared anything. I have only come across one person in all my years on cooking forums who claimed they used no prepared foods, that everything they consumed was made from scratch. Frankly, I don't believe that. I'd like to meet one person who never uses at least some prepared ingredients to effect time savings or make preparing a meal more convenient or easier. Takes me about 10 minutes of active time to make a batch of chicken stock with the bones from 10 pounds of leg quarters. No cutting boards....no knives...no pot watching....no skimming...no dishwashers. I grab the 5 liter pressure cooker. Toss the bones and a whole onion in the 5 liter pressure cooker and cover with water. Bring up to pressure and adjust heat. Turn off heat when done....allow to cool naturally. Strain and pour into containers. Refrigerate or freeze. Wash pressure cooker, bowl and strainer. Toss the bones in to the bokasi bucket. It doesn't take a lot of active time and effort.

Did you notice a difference between the ones you creamed by hand and the ones you made with a mixer? It doesn't seem that your friend was saying they wouldn't be good if you used a mixer. They'd still be good, just not the same as her mother's. The difference would be in the texture, since using a mixer would incorporate a bit more air. If your friend is used to eating them the way her mother always made them, she might be able to tell the difference whereas others might not. I keep searching for the "perfect" shortbread cookie. I've never met a shortbread I didn't like, but I have yet to find one that made me feel the search was over. Are you able to share your friend's recipe?

I remember trying to make a starter and ending up with lumps of papier mache. Then I read that rye flour forms a starter much more readily than wheat flour. (There are all sorts of reasons for this, but my grasp of the science is minimal.) Equal weights of rye flour and water (I've never used milk), cover lightly, let it hang out. For the first few days I dumped half and fed it daily, still using rye flour. It worked for me. Later you can feed it with wheat flour to change it to a regular levain. I kept half as a rye starter and half as a wheat starter. I use tap water, but I let it sit out overnight so the chlorine dissipates.

No, not this time. Just curious about which brand of butter you're talking about. Is there a reason you're keeping it a secret?

I'm not sure you'd find just one book that fits the bill. There are so many good books out there, and they all have different things to offer that can fit what you're looking for. Mixing and matching recipes might be the way to go. One of my all-time favorites (which I've mentioned many times) is Alice Medrich's "Pure Desserts." She has many good books, but I think that one is her gem. She experiments with a lot of different flavor combinations. Flo Braker is another favorite, and her "Simple Art of Perfect Baking" works on many levels. Sherry Yard is another favorite. (Those three are my "holy trinity," so to speak.) But then there are so many others, how can they be omitted? So mostly it's a matter of breadth. Then you make your choices. (But if you find one book that does it, please let us know which one!)

Many Asian desserts use beans (and various types of rice). But they are not used as substitutes for anything, they are an integral part of the dessert's texture. And they are not touted as "healthy!!" So there's no comparison to be made there, it's a cultural difference. I will continue to poo-poo (as you put it) ridiculous substitutes for ingredients and calling them "healthy!!!!" I have no patience for "Healthy Sugarless Brownies!!!!!" that are made with agave syrup. (And yes, they all seem to contain exclamation points.) Or "Healthy Banana Bread!!" made with whole wheat flour. For goodness sake. I have no trouble with the more thoughtful substitutions made for dietary reasons (tofu for cheese, for example). For the rest, I guess we'll simply have to agree to disagree.

One of my great aunts once brought a can of Del Monte zucchini with tomato to the family beach cottage when I was little. None of us had ever had zucchini in any form (WASPs in the Pacific Northwest in the 50s). For years after, my parents would say, "Zucchini? It's awful. Just tasteless glop." I had only ever eaten canned string beans when I was growing up. (Canned string beans, canned peas and carrots, canned corn. That was pretty much my exposure to vegetables. Except potatoes, of course. My mother was not a very adventurous cook.) Anyway, I'm sure I don't need to clue you in on the fact that canned string beans are vile. Much, much later, I would see fresh string beans in the outdoor market and avoid them like the plague. And then I was at a friend's house and there was a side dish of string beans, and I tried them. I remember the bright green and the crisp fresh flavor. Goodness, but that was revelatory.

My maternal grandmother was the only grandparent I ever knew. She was from Poland, and died when I was 11, but the one food I most associate with her is her borscht. One of my first memories is of standing on a chair near her stove, and her spoon-feeding me the warm borscht as it was still cooking. She made it once a week, and gave jars of it to my family. We always had it before dinner, cold from the refrigerator, and we drank it in a glass. We then ate the beets from the bottom of the glass with a fork. We never used any sort of dairy with it, no sour cream, no yogurt. I never even heard of that until I was in my twenties. It does turn the borscht a beautiful magenta, but in truth I prefer borscht the way my grandmother made it.

I just schlepped a full box of cookbooks up to Housing Works last weekend. I did have a few pangs at first, but they didn't last. Now I need to refill the box for round two.

Doesn't make sense. If it was a kosher meat deli, it's unlikely that they would serve dairy products at all. I don't doubt that you read it somewhere, but I'm very skeptical about the accuracy of the information.

That is interesting to know ... Yes, isn't it. I'd love to know which histories you're referring to. The main thing I'm wondering: why would this tradition (if that's what it was) have occurred in Jewish delis only? If it was meant to prevent the napkin from being reused, it would make sense for it to catch on everywhere. This is a very interesting "history."

Oh my goodness, what a great blog! That tabbouleh/tabuli/whatever in the jar is absolutely gorgeous. The next potluck I go to, I'm taking that. And at serving time, will just pour it into a bowl and stir. Thank you so much for taking the time to post this link. Wonderful. Glad you like it. I came across the blog about a year ago, I don't even remember how. She offers a wonderful "intersection" of east and west for both cooking and baking.

I try to tune out the "organic" push and just concentrate on reading the recipe, but yes it is an exasperating trend. What really gets me is reading a recipe for cake or some other dessert and the writer stresses that it is "guilt free" and/or "healthy." This usually means they used whole wheat flour or brown sugar or something presumed to be "better" than regular baking ingredients. "Without the guilt!!" For goodness sake, it's a cake. Make it well, eat it and enjoy it. And I don't want kidney beans in my brownies, thank you.

Because good tabbouleh is a beautiful thing: http://chefindisguise.com/2013/10/29/tabbouleh-a-beautiful-salad-lost-in-the-translation/#more-5527 One of the commenters mentions straining the tomatoes and then soaking the bulghur in the tomato water. Nice idea.

I'm curious, if you don't mind telling, what were those books?

I had two Charlie Trotter books in the pile to get rid of, mostly because I've had them for ages but don't use them. I bought them when I was just becoming interested in food (I kept reading about this guy called Charlie Trotter). But since I was always more interested in baking rather than cooking, these books were things I would get to "later." I have "Gourmet Cooking for Dummies" -- yes, really -- and "Charlie Trotter Cooks at Home." They are no longer in the "culled books" pile, and the "Charlie Trotter Cooks at Home" book is getting a serious look-through. Any books you've gotten rid of but later regretted?