Sunny Simmons Steincamp

While I've gotten pretty good at making several different kinds of loaf breads, pizza dough, dinner rolls, hoagie rolls, and crusty breads, my husband & daughter asked the other day if I could make *really* soft buns for "hot dogs" (we usually do brats or other sausages for these, but you get the idea.) They're wanting really soft, not-very-nutritious rolls like you buy in the 8-packs at grocery stores, and while I prefer more substantial bread myself (and they don't generally complain,) I guess I can understand the desire, now and then, for nostalgic white-bread buns. Does anyone have a recipe for these, or some suggestions for modifications on, say, my basic hoagie/burger bun recipe so it'll fit the bill? TIA...

I started collecting them because I send dinner to work with my husband every night, and found a myriad of other uses for them once I had some... so I have kept collecting them!

When I get home, I always crave comfort foods that I make, perhaps differently than other places... "my" biscuits, "my" barbecue, "my" peach cobbler... things that are staples around here on the days I'm not pretending to be a cross between Indiana Jones and Mr. (Mrs?) Wizard in the kitchen. Also, home-grown (fresh, canned, or frozen) goodies from the garden. PS: Welcome, Wendy!

Thanks again for all the suggestions. I wound up going with a basic sour cream cake recipe, but altering it a bit. I pureed the strawberries until they were basically liquid, then used them in place of most of the water. The texture of the cake, which I was worried about, was perfect. The taste was very good, but as Patrick commented, I was surprised that it didn't have more strawberry flavor. (The puree itself was very strawberry-y.) I made a very plain icing with more puree mixed in, and I was glad I'd used plenty of it, because that kinda upped the berry quotient and made it more tasty. The biggest disappointment was the color of the cake, which was a sort of purplish-gray! Again, I think the icing saved it, as that, at least, was pretty. All in all, it certainly got gobbled, but it was nothing I was particularly proud of. I guess I'll have to fiddle around some more, and I think that for the next batch I play with, I'll try something other than cake.

Thank you both! I had run into the crunch cake and that brioche in my search, and saved them for another time, but didn't manage to find the one from AR... that is <i>exactly</i> what I wanted... just a straight-forward strawberry cake. And you know, my grandmother used to do the very thing you mentioned... she would soak the berries in sugar, though, then drain them and poke holes in her finished cake layers and fill 'em with it! I appreciate it!

I want to make a strawberry cake, and since I had a hard drive loss a few weeks ago, no longer have my grandmother's recipe. I've looked everywhere, and can't find a single recipe that doesn't include a) a boxed cake mix, and b) a package of jell-o! What's up with this? I KNOW my grandma never used either, so I can't imagine that it is impossible to make a cake with frozen homegrown strawberries (which is what I have.) Can anyone help? Barring this, does anyone have an interesting idea for a dessert using 2 quarts of unsweetened, now-thawed strawberries?

I have silicone bakeware that I never use, too... a six-muffin "tin" (or whatever you call a blue silicone muffin thingie) and what I suppose is a cake pan (the sides are really tall.) I swap both of those in a heartbeat for a tortilla press...

Banana & mayonnaise sandwiches with black pepper Black-eyed peas with mayonnaise Cold (or even pantry-temp) green peas mixed with mayo, dill, & chopped onion Cinnamon graham crackers with cream cheese Triscuit crackers topped with a pepper (jalapeno or banana rings) and a square of sharp white cheddar & broiled in the oven

Edited for stupidity: I forgot this is in the Cocktails section. *grin* If you want a recipe for Lemon Pepper Smoked Salmon Cheesecake, let me know!

Have you tried Costco? I can't recall how much I pay for them there, but it sure isn't as expensive as you mention!

If you're just getting your feet wet (hehe) with seafood, and aren't sure about "fishy" fish, I'd suggest some nice flounder filets. They're versatile, easy to cook, and are very mild. Folks have already given lots of great tips for cooking fish here, so I won't repeat those, but if you want to branch out into some shellfish, even though you said something about not caring for the texture of lobster and shrimp, you might think about making a crabmeat stuffing for flounder. I *far* prefer crab to lobster or shrimp, unless I'm cooking the latter myself and have time to make sure it's done perfectly... otherwise you wind up with a rubbery mouth feel that is fairly unpleasant to me. For 1 1/2 lbs. of flounder, I use around 1 1/2 cups of crabmeat, 1/2 to 3/4 cup of breadcrumbs (I like to use my own homemade bread, but any good bread will do; just don't use the storebought dry bread crumbs,) an egg, a tablespoon or so of mayonnaise (again, homemade olive oil mayo is my favorite, but any good mayo will do,) and add-ins as you see fit. Very finely chopped sweet peppers or onions are nice, as are capers, some shredded Swiss or Parmesan cheese, or a clove or two of roasted garlic. Fresh herbs to complement whatever sauce you might like or to go along with the rest of the meal theme are mandatory, for me, along with a bit of salt & pepper. To "stuff," I rinse the filets, pat them dry, and lay them out on a work surface, then top each with equal amounts of the crab filling. Roll each filet up, beginning with the tail end, and set in a buttered baking dish on the rolled end (so you can see the swirls from the top.) I bake them at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes as is, or if I want to top with a sauce (white sauce with Gruyere is a favorite here,) I bake for about 20 minutes at 375 before topping with the sauce, increasing the oven heat to about 425, and then finishing up for another 5-6 minutes, until bubbly and beginning to brown. This is not exactly an "elegant" dish, perhaps, but it's delicious and satisfies a lot of my seafood-skittish friends & family. The other nice thing about it is that if you're entertaining, you can assemble this hours ahead of time and refrigerate until you're ready to bake. The bad news is, it takes a nice, healthy food like fresh flounder and makes it... well... not so healthy.

I had to make a cherry pie the other day, to use up a bunch of fresh cherries left over from a festival at our place. These weren't sour cherries, so I don't know how much difference that would make; I personally don't care for cherries much, so I have little experience. But I just halved & pitted the fruits, tossed with with some sugar & a bit of cornstarch (eyeballed it; about a cup of sugar & 2 tbsp. or so of cornstarch for enough cherries to fit in a 6-cup liquid measure,) a pinch of salt, and a smidge of almond extract. I made a very short crust (butter & lard,) and left the top open (no top crust or lattice.) I can't vouch for it personally, but my daughter & husband polished off the entire thing in two days.

I don't know the answer to your question, but I'm with you on the value of beef neck bones. Maybe it's because you don't find these sitting prettily in your grocer's meat cases, today? We buy sides of organic, grass-fed Angus beef about every six months, and of course, along with that we get tons of neck (and other) soup bones. The only thing I do is roast them in the oven with some salt & pepper to bring out some flavor, then drop them in water to simmer into stock. And the only thing better than the neck bones, to me, are the oxtails. Yum. Got some on the stove right now with a bean mix for a hoppin-jon-esque dinner soup right now, as a matter of fact...

I have had a gaggle of teens, myself... they're a bit older now (15, 17, 19, 20, 21,) but we've had our share of cooking parties for their friends as they were growing up. This is a great idea. If the teens in question have very little experience in the kitchen, I think you can keep it very simple. For one thing, making flower decorations may be a bit of overkill; just give them a pastry bag with lots of different tips and some buttercream and let 'em go nuts. Trust me, they'll be thrilled. And as far as carrot/pineapple cake... no matter *what* fun stuff I try to whip up, dessert-wise, the carrot/pineapple/coconut cake I make (with cream cheese frosting) is what everyone asks for over and over again! I also second the chocolate-dipped bananas. We did this for the huge number of kids we had here for a 4-day festival in May. The kids formed a kind of assembly line, some inserting popsicle sticks, others poking peanuts, raisins, and/or M&M's into the bananas, then the older kids dipping them in chocolate & laying them out on parchment-covered baking sheets for freezing. I don't imagine this is very Hawaiian in theme, but another thing my kids really loved doing was making funnel cakes. You want to make sure there is careful supervision, as you're dealing with hot oil, of course, but it's certainly not beyond a teen's skill level. My kids have grown up in the kitchen, but my now 15-year-old daughter had this down to a fine art by the time she was 11. And if you're already making pate choux dough for cream puffs or eclairs (another GREAT idea,) you can just make some extra for the funnel cakes! Have fun!

This moves away from "pastry and baking" relevance, but fried herbs are unbelievable. I first saw this done in a Saveur magazine (from back in 2000) in an article on tempura. They're beautiful, and have never failed to get expressions of amazement from folks who'd never heard of such a thing! <img src="http://www.amarisse.net/tempimages/herbtempura.jpg">

Around these parts (Virginia,) I know of only a couple of salad bars (other than a few that are part of Sunday brunches.) There is a natural foods store in Richmond (Ellwood Thompson) that has one. The local "upscale" grocery store, Ukrops, provides decent salad (and fruit, and side dish, and olive) bars in their stores. And then there's Ruby Tuesday. A chain, of course, but I'll admit to stopping by on more than one occasion with my Mom when I'm out in Richmond shopping. They have several types of greens and lots of different toppings -- I like the fact that they have fava beans, bleu cheese crumbles, several types of mushrooms, and dried cranberries. My only real complaint is that they have a puny selection of dressings, none of which is interesting or even very good. But it's not a bad lunch-on-the-go, when I'm not down toward Cary Street and don't want to patronize Ukrops (which I avoid at all costs.)

That makes sense. I think I got a lot luckier than I realized! Ok, I googled around and found <a href="http://sugarcraft.com/catalog/paper/cardboards.htm#masonite">these</a> masonite boards. They're 1/4" thick, though... is that okay to use in between layers? Or should I keep looking for thinner ones? Sounds like these would be a lot better for the bottom, for sure.. the first time I used a store-bought Wilton plastic base, and that was hellish. This time, I bought a heavy-duty quality round pizza pan (sounds bad, but it was really pretty, being brand new!) It was a little better, but still didn't tempt me to want to move it around too much. Ok, so I got that part right by instinct. Too bad I didn't have the boards in between! Your suspicions are correct. WalMart, Michael's, Ben Franklin, and Party City (the latter having the best selection, oddly enough.) I wonder where else I can check to find a fabulous selection of baking goodies? I don't recall seeing such things at Bed, Bath & Beyond OR my favorite gourmet kitchen store in Richmond. I seem to remember, years ago, a huge Wilton's section at the old Service Merchandise stores, but alas, they have gone the way of the dinosaurs. Looks like I'm going to have to force my friends & family to eat cake for a while, as I experiment, then, huh? Absolutely! You've all been very generous... thanks! Will share pictures of my next endeavor!

I appreciate the encouragement! My first one actually came out a little better, honestly, but it was a whole tier shorter and the bride wanted *lots* of flowers. (You can see it <a href="http://www.amarisse.net/tempimages/cake1.jpg"> here</a>, if you're interested.) This cake was more of a learning experience, but, fortunately, you rarely get much in the way of complaints when the happy couple in question is getting a very pretty venue (our place,) all the reception food, the cakes, and the performance of the ceremony itself as a big, package wedding gift! Seriously, though, I'm just hoping the learning curve will be, for me, like learning to bake bread. I was terrified of it, at first, due to some early failures, but once I got the hang of the basics, it's like breathing, and I'm never afraid to make up my own recipes. I'm still not there, by a long shot, with cakes! Heck, I'm so scared of screwing up the proportions of batter in the differing sizes of pans, I cheated and used cake mixes for both wedding cakes! (Shh, please don't tell on me!) I thought about taking one of those classes they hold at Michael's or Ben Franklin, but we live out in the sticks and the nearest town that has such a thing (Richmond, VA) is over an hour away... I wonder if it would be worthwhile, or if I should just keep plugging? Anyway... thanks again to all who helped out! You may see a "tiered birthday cake" thread appear sometime next week if I get brave enough to tackle it!

That really does look fun... and it sounds like the kind of things I'd make. (Considering the groom's cake for my first wedding baking project was a Batman cake, and this one was a pinata cake!) I'm heading into town for a few days tonight and will check it out! Thanks.

Ok, this was VERY helpful. Thank you! I think I have a much better idea of what I am doing wrong, and what I need to do to fix it, now. I already pretty much decided I was going to look into buying a cake leveler after fighting with the layers this go-around. I'm glad to know they actually work! I only put parchment in between the tiers. It's funny that I found so many sets of directions that indicated the use of dowels but made no mention of cake boards needing to be used! Of course, I have absolutely ZERO experience in baking wedding cakes, and made my first one before I wandered over here to eGullet (and was too busy with a hundred other things to think about it, this time!) so I was pretty ignorant when I started an internet search. I think I might make another cake weekend after next. I have a festival going on here, and a birthday party on one of those nights, so there'll be enough people to knock out most of a wedding-sized cake, and no serious pressure. My guests have yet to complain when I use them for culinary guinea pigs. Thanks again for taking the time to write out this explanation. I might run back begging for advice again when I tackle the columns!

No, I didn't. As I said, I was kinda winging it both times, and found that basic directions online were split about half and half as to whether or not it was necessary. I did buy the cake rounds, but once I saw they didn't *perfectly* match the layers (size-wise,) I opted out of them. Think that would have helped solve my problem, as well?

Hmm. Ok. I suppose I figured it was the heat, since it didn't start to lean at all the day before, and only started in the early afternoon the second day, when it got to be like 80+ in the house! I also didn't use any dowels at all the first time I made a cake, but it was in a cooler the whole time, from finish to serving, and it didn't lean. I guess I got lucky! I did use Wilton cake dowels. You're right; none of the tiers was perfectly level. Part of how you can tell I'm nowhere near a pro. But it didn't seem significantly off, as I said, until the next day. Yeah. I had no reference point at all, and just kinda winged it with the dowels. How do you go about ensuring that they *are* straight? Good call. I tried fiddling with some greenery up there, but it wound up looking a little on the gaudy & garish side. When I tried a couple of daisies, they were FAR too big. Guess I should have plucked some smaller sized ones, for up there. I'm not familiar at all with this; the pillars act as stabilizers within the cake layers themselves, you mean? Is there a web reference someplace I could perhaps peek at something like this? The few places I found online that gave "tutorials" seemed either to be missing any photos or assumed far more basic knowledge of cake decorating than I am in possession of at this time. Again, I'm not entirely sure what you mean (and would dearly appreciate clarification!) but the dowels were Wilton brand. Thanks for taking the time to give your suggestions. It's a fairly daunting thing, to make a wedding cake when you haven't the foggiest idea what you're doing! The first one I made back in April, I tried to beg out of, but the bride kept assuring me that she "didn't care what it looked like," because she knew it would at least taste good if I made it. I had no idea what I was getting into, and swore (after 16 hours of work!) I'd never do it again. Little did I know that my best friend's daughter was going to wind up asking me to repeat the process two months later. And how do you say no to that?

This weekend I made my second-ever wedding cake. Here's a picture: <img src="http://www.amarisse.net/tempimages/drewjocake2.jpg"> And here are a couple of questions for you pro's... 1. It was REALLY hot in my house all day Saturday. The cake was too big to fit into either of my refrigerators, so it was at room temp when the outdoor air started taxing the a/c (esp. with the doors open/shut/open all day.) I used wooden dowels to help keep the layers from slipping, but we wound up making Leaning Tower of Pisa jokes before the end of the day! (Fortunately, it never looked like it was actually in jeopardy of falling, but it just didn't look even and professional.) Any tips? 2. The bride really liked the frosted grapes I used on the first cake I made, and she wanted them on her own cake top. I obliged, but found the end result... I dunno... a little disappointing? Maybe the grapes just clashed with the daisies & stuff. Any ideas on how I could have incorporated the grapes, but with a little more flair? I'll admit that by the time I got to that point, I was utterly exhausted from prepping not just the cake, but all the reception food, the house, and the grounds... but I can't even really think of much I could have done differently, in hindsight, either. 3. I've not been brave enough to try dividing layers with columns, yet. Any warnings or advice before I get myself roped into make another cake and decide to give it a shot? Thanks in advance!

Maybe not in "regular" cake, but I make a mean smoked salmon cheesecake. Been craving it for weeks, as a matter of fact, and was planning to make one for the wedding I catered (and hosted, actually) yesterday, but just plain ran out of time, what with doing the actual wedding cakes, too.

Most of my foodservice experience was as a bartender, and solo as a caterer, so I've been spared the worst of things, from reading some of these posts! I did, of course, work in a few "dives" over the course of years, and in some of those places, took turns mucking out the bathrooms. You can use your imagination as to what it was like there some nights. And I once worked in a club where the fire suppression system was engaged, and had to spend the better part of three days helping clean that mess up. Gods, what a stink.