LaurelH

1. "The Joy of Cooking" - I still return to it for basic recipes and it still holds up against years of experimentation and newer cookbooks. 2. "The Vegetarian Epicure" vol. 1 & 2 by Anna Thomas - The first cookbook that I cooked from regularly and it was groundbreaking in its day. I was inspired to expand my repertoire and explore because of her recipes. 3. "The Good Cook" Time Life Series - My mother passed these on to me when I moved into my first apartment and the detailed illustrations and photos were perfect for a young cook. 4. "Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Breads" - This was one of the first cookbooks that I bought. I was impressed by the quality of writing. His detailed and well researched recipes were excellent, moreover, the stories behind the recipes were inspiring. 5. "The New Home Cook" by Florence Fabricant - My first dinner parties would not have been the same without this book. 6. "Fields of Greens" by Annie Somerville - A long-time favourite that celebrates fresh produce and quality ingredients. It also inspired me to explore some ingredients that weren't readily available in Canada at the time. 7. "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" by Deborah Madison - This book has become my newest favourite. It is a compendium of simple and lovely recipes where the key ingredients truly shine through and old classics are renewed. Do I love cookbooks? Yes, I do. I should note that I am not a vegetarian, but for some reason many of my favourite cookbooks have a vegetarian theme. They are simply great cookbooks that stand out on their own merit.

I have 120 cookbooks at a quick estimate. Who knew? I am glad I never counted before. I was already feeling like I had no excuses to purchase anymore cookbooks. Why am I always looking for recipes online? That must stop. But I am a chronic researcher and tend to investigate any new recipe or method so I need all those cookbooks (and the internet).

After a lot of experimenting and a few years of waitressing an Italian restaurant and hanging out with the pizza cooks I finally developed a pretty fool proof method and recipe. It is as much the method as the recipe when it comes to pizza dough. A few things that you need to keep in mind regardless of the recipe are: - don't overwork the dough - don't knead the balls of dough after they have been portioned, shaped, and rested - always work with room temperature dough - try to work with relatively soft (high water content) dough - bake at the highest possible temperature (within reason of course) - bake on a low shelf - use a pizza stone if possible - never put the pizza in the oven right after taking a pizza out, give it a few minutes to reheat - for less than perfect ovens use a pizza screen (it works on the rack or a stone), this is a recent discovery for me and I have never had better results. Standard pizza pans only work if you have a really hot oven and gas not electric because electric ovens are too damp. - adjust for climate, damp climates might need less liquid, dry climates might need more, although I think you would have to move to the Sahara Desert to get any dryer than Winnipeg in the Winter. I have had a lot of success with the following recipe adapted from the KitchenAid stand mixer cookbook/manual: 5 cups flour 2 teaspoons salt 2 tablespoons sugar (or honey) 1/4 cup olive oil (or canola) 2 1/4 cups water for crispy crust (or 1 c. milk 1 c. water for less crunchy more tender crust) 2 scant tablespoons active dry yeast (not the instant kind) In a stand mixer: Dissolve the yeast in 1 cup of the warm water (~ 115ºF). Add the remaining water, salt, olive oil, and most of the flour (you can set aside a 1/2 cup portion if you live in a dry climate and knead it in later if needed). Turn to speed 2 (kitchen aid) and mix until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl (2 to 3 minutes). In a processor (using the metal blade): Dissolve the yeast in 1 cup of the warm water (~ 115ºF) in a 4 cup bowl. In the processor Add the flour and salt and give it a whiz to combine. Add the remaining water, oil, and sugar to the yeast mixture. Pour the yeast mixture into the flour with the machine running, and pulse a few times until the dough froms a ball or rough mass depending on the brand of machine. For both methods: Turn the dough out on a lightly floured counter and knead lightly for a minute or two. Place in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top. Cover and let rise 1 hour, punch down split the dough into 5 portions (for medium thin crust pizzas) turn each portion into a nice round ball and cover and let rise a minimum of 20 minutes, or pop into the fridge overnight. Bring the dough to room temperature if it has been refrigerated. Do not knead the dough. Take out the dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface. Once you have a nice circle you can relax the dough and make it expand bythrowing/tossing it or stretching it by hand now and again, and then give it a final turn with the rolling pin for nice shape. Have an oven heated to the highest temperature (500º or higher) for an absolute minimum of 20 minutes and the shelf set on the lowest rack. If using a pizza stone preheat for an absolute minimum of 30 minutes, preferably longer and on the lowest rack as well. If you have a pizza screen simply lay the dough on it and dress it as you please. If you don't have a mesh pan and own a pizza stone the easiest way to make a crisp crust is to actually pull the (hot) pizza stone from the heated oven, carefully lay the dough across the hot stone, quickly build your pizza directly on the stone and pop it in the oven. For the next pizza you need to give the stone a few minutes to heat up again post pizza baking (5 to 10 minutes). Obviously you want to make sure that you lay the pizza stone on a heat proof surface while building your pizza, be very careful when handling the hot stone. As I mentioned above, you can buy these cheap (5$ or less) mesh pizza pans/screens that look sort of like they are made out of thick chicken wire if that make any sense, and in a less than perfect oven like my old electric kenmore with a maximum of 500ºF you can actually get a lovely crusty bottom of you bake them at the highest temp on a low shelf or a pizza stone set on a low shelf. They are a good cheat when you don't have a high end oven. Good luck, and trust me with the method it will work.

I was getting tired just looking at the pictures. I am not sure when I will work up the energy to make these but at some point I will have to do it, for the nostalgia of eating them. Although, I could probably just hop in the car and make the trip down Corydon for a container of the lovely dumplings. Do you sell them in the shop? I am thinking from the photographs that my Baba must have made hers with wonton wrappers because hers had thinner wrappers and looked like little wrinkled up paper bags, if that makes any sense. Hmm, I'll have to dig through her recipe collection to find out.

Thank you, as always, for the trip down memory lane. The soup looks lovely. I haven't looked at the kreplach recipe yet but I am looking forward to it since it is one of the items that I never got a chance to cook with my Baba. Our family soup is almost identical, which is no surprise since we are both Winnipegers, but there are a few slight variations. My Baba added 10 whole black peppers and studded her onions with 4 or 5 cloves. She also left the roots on the onions, and added some garlic if there were any colds to be comforted. Oh, and a sprig of fresh parsley. I would also like to add that I think that one of the overlooked keys to good chicken soup is the Parsnip, as in yor recipe. It imparts a sweetness and earthiness that is unavailable from any other source. So for those of you who do try this recipe you should absolutely use parsnip, even if you aren't fond of it under regular circumstances. The other key is the fat. Leave a little, it is probably the next wonder food, we just don't know it yet. The smell of chicken soup comforts my soul. I still make it religiously whenever my family or friends are ill. It is like a reflex. I have made it for friends suffering from heartache, cancer, and the blues, all with the sincerest wishes that it might cure more than the common cold. Thanks again Pam.

Soup and biscuits/bread are always comforting, and cobbler or crisp for dessert, it can be a pretty good breakfast food too. I always do dishes that I can cook for my family and double up for extra, like chili, stew, soup, etc. I tend to do pies and quiches as well because you can make a bunch of pastry and just fill them with desserts or quiche or stew. Also brownies, cake, or cookies are good items for guests because if they are jewish they will have a house full of people and it is nice to have extra sweets in the freezer to take out if needed. It is the thought that counts and if you are greiving as well don't feel bad about bringing some nice bagels and lox, or good french bread, along with store bought dinners if you are not up for cooking. Nobody is particularly picky at times like this but it can be very comforting for you to do some cooking if that helps you and the love that you put into to it always makes a difference, but don't stress yourself. I am sorry for your loss. Take care.

I would have some concern about chemicals leaching into my food, make sure that the cling wrap that you use does not contain DEHA, a carcinogen commonly found in some food wraps. Saran Wrap, resinite and cling wrap may all have a different chemical make up. So you would want to know if the particular product is recommended for use in contact with the food while heating or just for draping loosely, while heating, and what methods of heating are recommended. I personally would use the product that has been engineered for this purpose, not all plastics are created equally and most of them are designed for a specific purpose and the safety of these products outside of their specified use is unknown.

I would pick pie over cake any day with the exception of my grandmother's chocolate cake, which I used to ball up into dense little balls and eat with happy abandon. Here is the recipe in case you are enthusiastic enough to try baking a cake that is better than pie, it is an odd recipe but it is the most purely chocolate cake I have ever tasted. Light and fudgy at the same time. Yum! Black Beauty Cake 2/3 cup butter 2 eggs 2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate 2 ¾ cups flour 2 teaspoon baking soda 2 heaping teaspoons baking powder 1 pinch salt Stir together the chocolate and 1 cup of boiling water, to melt. Set aside. Cream together the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add the cooled chocolate mixture. Blend. Sift together the dry ingredients. Add to the butter mixture alternately with 1 cup of hot water. Bake in 2 9-inch round tins or one rectangular cake pan ~45 min. at 350º. As for pie, I vote for homemade Saskatoon Berry Pie with a double crust here in Canada or Tarte aux Myrtilles in Switzerland as the supreme pie experiences of my life (both with vanilla ice cream or lightly sweetened whipped cream depending on your mood.) Sigh.

Yes!! For the last two weeks I had been craving (and eating alot of ) saag paneer! I won't be posting to this thread for awhile: The pregnancy was an ectopic one, and yesterday I had surgery just in the nick of time. I've been comforting myself today with the recommended doses of painkillers, and lots of chocolate. Lots and lots and *lots* of chocolate. ...Already, I notice I'm fine with food smells. Funny how quickly that changes? ← Hi Susan, I just wanted to add my heartfelt sympathy. So sorry to hear of your sad news, glad to hear that you made it to the hospital in the nick of time. Best wishes, Laurel

I have to say that I was just beginning to feel guilty about my cookbook fetish, thinking that I had perhaps become unreasonable, then I found this thread... Well, I am feeling much better now. It never even occurred to me to count my cookbooks but based on a brief scan and some ragged estimates I have about 200 cookbooks, which I now realize is a totally reasonable number of cookbooks to own. I am not counting favourite archived food magazines and food related books mind you because I just don't have the time nor the inclination. However, I feel a burden lifted from my shoulders in knowing that I am not alone in my irrational gathering of all things food related. I use mine mainly for reference. If I do follow a recipe I tend to refer to 3 or 4 cookbooks at the same time. I have also come to the realization that I have yet to follow a recipe to the letter. I went through a phase of trying to follow recipes but I seem to incapable of doing so without constant adjustment. I am not sure why this is. I wish that I were more scientific in my approach and less intuitive, but I have always had a problem with authority. Thanks to all of you for making me feel better.

Actually, yes. I just let my subscription lapse because I decided that something had changed there, as I was finding far fewer useful articles and recipes. A few years ago, there were recipes that became staples; now it seems fussier and less useful, and the articles seem over-written. It's still better than many food magazines, but I am very choosy about whether to buy an issue now. ← I'd have to agree. I have read Fine Cooking since the beginning and when they started they were amazing. They have become more and more complacent. I have so many issues that involve pork loin and chicken breast; they certainly don't explore food in the way that they used to. I still find that they research their recipes well and you often find classic recipes, but the magazine as a whole has become kind of repetitive. I wish that they would explore some more off the beaten path foods and cuisines, because they tend to be more like cook's illustrated lately where the obsession seems to be with technique, and the food seems to be very middle america. Some variety and exploration would really brighten things up. Also with so many great guest chefs you would think that they might let them run with it instead of rehashing methods of gnocchi making, soup and stew fixing, and torte baking over and over again. We should be forwarding them our thoughts. I really respect the magazine and would love to see an improvement.

I am assuming that your interest in this topic is of a more academic nature and that you are interested in authenticity rather than personal taste. So... I am not a chef and have never lived in France and so I am not claiming to know anything earth shattering on the subject, but, having made a brief review of my ridiculously large cookbook collection it appears that Julia Child knows what she is talking about (no suprise there). I checked out all of the cookbooks that I have relating to French Cuisine and none of them include sugar in the ingredients for their vinaigrettes. This list of chef/authors includes Jacques Pépin, Paula Wolfert, Louisa Jones, Anthony Bourdain, and Madeleine Kamman. I believe that they constitute a reliable source. If you want specifics I can forward more specific info. I, however, love a little sugar in my vinaigrettes, and add it on most occasions. Also adding little glucose is an old restaurant trick to help keep a dressing emulsified for a longer period of time, if that is of any importance to you. Have you seen the Weblog Chocolate & Zucchini?It is a really enjoyable and engaging blog by a young french woman (Clotilde Dusoulier) who could probably enlighten you as to all things french (I mean French with a capital F). I just looked at her blog to confirm her name and she has a delicious looking Salad with Arugula, toasted almonds, and a sherry vinaigrette that contains 1 tsp. of sugar, which would compliment the bitter greens and almonds nicely, so there you have it, maybe not historically appropriate, but certainly french. Does that help?

I don't know whether it is appropriate to dietary laws but what aqbout Agar or arrowroot? One is a seaweed and the other a root. Are they allowed? oops! for some reason I didn't have the previous 2 posts on my screen when I wrote this.

Thanks to everyone for all the great suggestions, now I just have to pick which one to make. We might have a few cakes and some meringue to pick from this year if I can't decide! I am feeling very inspired now.

Kosher Cookingmany of these will be fine without nuts ... ← Thanks for the quick response. Many of these desserts work so well because of the nuts (dacquoise, etc.). I would like to find out if anyone has a favorite nut free recipe to escape the old sponge cake routine. I suppose I am looking for some inspiration. Sigh.