ruthcooks

Have you tried spraying the plastic wrap with Pam? Or how about a garnish element to mask the marred surface? I've used cookie crumbs, crushed nuts, citrus zest, or whatever goes with the dessert.

My recipe calls for heating the frosting milk, butter and cocoa until boiling, then beating in the powdered sugar. It's sure to spread this way. I love this cake, just looked for my recipe and can't find it. I'll probably be up all night.

One more for me... My son-in-law just returned from New Orleans yesterday and brought me the Uglesich's Restaurant cookbook. My advice is to skip the book unless you have a favorite dish there that you'd like to duplicate. The book needed an editor, a proof reader and a real writer, and I question some of the recipes. Mayonnaise + chopped hamburger dill slices = tartar sauce? Macaroni & Cheese with evaporated milk, Egg Beaters and margarine? Jarred spaghetti sauce? Guess you have to eat there.

Anything for butter. Tofu for anything.

I'm enjoying this blog immensely...would love to know the composition of each and every dessert, but that would probably make me hunger for them even more. Now I see why restaurants have pastry chefs, all the special gadgets and ingredients and techniques that are required. I'll never understand, though, how you accomplish so much in a day. In admiration... Ruth

Pullets are not old chickens, but young ones. You can raise chickens from the baby chick stage or from the pullet stage, a bit older. The chickens with a lot of flavor, the really old ones, are known as "setting hens", "laying hens", or, culinarily as "stewing hens". They have lots of fat and it is very yellow. I remember noodles swimming in chicken fat.

Don't throw away all those egg yolks, use them first. Make Hollandaise or Bearnaise, baked custard or flan, egg bread, lemon curd, etc. Save all the whites and freeze them until you have enough for the angel food cake. Homemade, please. Frosting is good, but whipped cream and strawberries or raspberries is possibly better. (You can't freeze yolks very well, and you have to use them within a day or two, so this can't be done in reverse.)

I have lots of stuff which is from both sides of the family but my mother no longer remembers "what one was which one and which one was what." My grandmother's cast iron Dutch oven Lots of china made by Haviland, Limoges, etc. My great-grandparents' set of china given to them by their 8 children at their 50th wedding anniversary (my grandparents were all born in the late 1800's) A collection of wooden kitchen implements such as spoons, potato mashers, butter paddles and molds, some hand carved Hand written cookbooks from both grandmothers and a great aunt A few years ago I bought a "map table" coffee table. It has a glass top and pull out drawers so that you can display items. This is where I keep most of the non-kitchen family items small enough to fit. Unfortunately, I don't think either of my kids is very interested in any of it.

The worst hands down was a cookbook from the Pioneers or Pioneer Club or something like that, which is a group of retirees from Southern Bell in Nashville. A thick book of oft repeated recipes with the cake mix, can of soup, tub of Cool Whip, etc. But it was given to me by a friend (she told me I'd not like it, sort of a joke gift) and I keep it as a reminder of how bad a cookbook can be. The only cookbook I ever returned was by Joanna Lund, a mid-western diva of low fat cooking. It was supposed to be comfort foods but the recipes consisted of terrible, nasty, chemical ingredients. I was told in a publishing seminar that she has sold more cookbooks than any other cookbook author in America. Good grief. There is one more I can't wait to get rid of: "Bobby Flay Cooks American Style". All he does is add chili peppers to most of the recipes, thereby ruining them for me.

A light hand...my chiffon cakes rise about 2 inches higher than those of other people using my recipe. Finding shortcuts...especially when I was catering, I would find easier ways to make lots of servings. A bonus result of being lazy. Planning menus...my favorite part of cooking, I just seem to find combinations of foods that go well together. Not easy when you have a picky family. Pretty food...not with squeeze bottles, piling things high or arrangements of multiple components, just juxtaposition of complimentary shapes, colors, tastes. And neatness counts.

Preserves that do not contain Sure-Jell or other added fruit pectins must be cooked longer in order to evaporate the liquid. Since longer cooking also reduces the fresh fruit flavor and increases the sweetness, it is sometimes preferable to undercook and have a runny but better tasting product. Also, preserves that are made by the freezer method are always runnier but have the freshest flavors of any cooking method. After living in the South from 1967 to 2001, I can't say that I noticed runny preserves as being ubiquitous to the South. Perhaps restaurants do this so the preserves go further? You can't pile it up!

We're having an early brunch of creamed eggs, sausages and chocolate-walnut coffeecake, then a dinner later of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, candied sweet potatoes, green beans and cheesecake. Very plain and abbreviated because my daughter and her husband will be away through Wednesday and only my two teenage grandsons and I will be here to deal with leftovers. I wanted to do the turkey with more seasonal and lighter foods, but she went to the store and bought groceries without consulting me. Can't complain because she's doing most of the cooking.

My son, Chris, who lived several years in the Carolinas, devised his own version of Shrimp and Grits. He marinates the shrimp in lemon juice, garlic and cayenne. He cooks the grits in broth, then adds white cheddar and cream, then makes a "gravy" of bacon, prosciutto, andouille, bell pepper, onion, flour, white wine and cream. The shrimp are cooked in the gravy, poured over the grits in pasta bowls and topped with green onion. Very rich and very delicious.

According to "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon et. al. (my favorite health food book because it is non-PC and highly recommends butter), nuts contain enzyme inhibitors which interfere with digestion. They are nutritious and more digestible, however, when soaked overnight in salt water and then dried slowly in a barely warm oven or hydrator. This causes them to start to sprout, and is the same technique used for seeds for the same reasons.

Beautiful presentation! Glad you liked it...although one of the reasons I like it so much is my dislike of cinnamon. Are there pieces of almond in the custard? I blend it until absolutely smooth, and never thought of adding extract...would have added a little almond extract in addition to vanilla had I thought of it. Next time...

Due to a request, here's that recipe: Tart Normandy 10 inch unbaked butter pastry tart: 1 cup flour 6 Tablespoons frozen unsalted butter, cut into 6 or 8 pieces 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 Tablespoon sugar 3 Tablespoons ice water Apple filling: 1 pound tart apples, such as Granny Smith 4 Tablespoons butter 4 Tablespoons sugar 3 Tablespoons dark rum 1/2 cup apricot jam Almond Custard filling: 2 eggs 3/4 cup powdered sugar 4 ounces blanched almonds 1 cup heavy cream Powdered sugar for topping For pastry: combine all ingredients except water in processor bowl. Process by pulsing, until the mixture has the consistency of coarse corn meal. With machine running, add water in a steady stream. A ball of dough will form in about 30 seconds. You may roll immediately or chill. Use a flan ring with removable sides, if available. After rolling, keep chilled until filling is ready. Apple filling: pare and slice apples. Saute over medium high heat with sugar and butter until lightly caramelized. Add rum and flame. Stir in jam. Cool completely. Spread cooled apples in the pastry and bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Meanwhile, make custard filling: combine eggs, powdered sugar, almonds and cream in blender container and blend until smooth. Pour over hot crust/apples and return to oven. Bake an additional 25 or 30 minutes, or until custard seems done in center. Serve lukewarm, sifted heavily with powdered sugar. It looks prettier if you cut the tart into servings before sifting over the sugar. 8 servings.

I have a yummy one which is caramelized apples flamed with rum baked in a butter crust, with a blender whizzed custard topping of cream, sugar, eggs and almonds poured on top and baked again. Very easy and delicious. E-mail or pm me if you want the recipe.

My son and his wife took over the Eliza Thompson House B&B in Savannah for a wedding weekend 3 years ago. Lovely old rooms and a gorgeous courtyard with breakfast in or out. Breakfasts not special, but OK. Charm galore.

Carrots and onions go well together when in a cream/Bechamel sauce. My mother used to cook new carrots that way, although hers were more likely boiled in water and the cooking water thickened with a flour-milk slurry. Carrots go well with thyme, a herb I don't use much except with poultry. Carrots with raspberry syrup/puree. Perhaps also with coarse grained mustard? My favorite carrot salad, adapted from terminally perky Rachel Ray: grated carrots, orange and lemon juice, a bit of brown sugar, golden raisins. Sometimes a dash of pickled jalapeno juice if I have any around. Sometimes fresh pineapple instead of raisins. One of my most cherished recipes, Carrot Pudding--think carrot custard/souffle, a substitute for sweet potatoes with pork or poultry, not dessert. I once volunteered to edit a cookbook because I figured I could persuade a woman to part with this recipe. And this most elegant one in a silky sauce: Carrots Superb (serves about 8) 2 lbs. baby carrots 1 teaspoon sugar 1/3 cup water 3 Tablespoons melted butter 1/3 cup heavy cream 2 egg yolks Parboil carrots in boiling, salted water and shock carrots in cold water. Drain well and hold or refrigerate up to 3 days in a plastic bag or container. Combine carrots, sugar and water in a large skillet or saucepan. Cover and heat until carrots are heated through. A little water left in the pan is OK. Meanwhile, combine butter, cream and egg yolks. Remove pan from heat. Stir this mixture into the carrots and let stand 5 minutes covered and off the heat. Stir again and serve.

Malawry, I don't envy your work load. May I suggest that part of that excess budget needs to go for a dishwasher/kitchen helper? I read all e-Gullet blogs and love them, but yours has special meaning to me. Here's why: From 1994-97, three school years, I was the House Director (read house mother) for a sorority house at Vanderbilt University…a cushy job compared to yours. I planned menus and grocery shopped, but had a cook who prepared the food, did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen, plus housekeepers who did the rest of the cleaning two days a week. Merely six girls lived in the house, usually the top officers, and we served seated dinners only for them (and me) Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. One or more chapter girls cooked on Monday night for the entire chapter, about 90 members in all. The first year I thought I had found my dream job, even though the pay was nothing. At the beginning of each year I had each girl fill out a long questionnaire about her food preferences. I then color-coded them so I could tell at a glance how many girls would eat a certain food. It was a balancing act to be sure that each girl had enough foods she would eat at each meal, and these girls were very particular. My role in foods was to plan the menus—my favorite part of the cooking process—provide recipes and supervision for the cook, who was herself a retired supervisor from the school lunch program. I would help her cook when a recipe was beyond her scope, or when she got behind, and fill in for her when she couldn’t make it. I also made extra treats for the house girls, like a bowl of chicken salad for the weekend or some special dessert, and ran around town buying their frozen yogurt and bagels and whatever else their hearts desired. The food we served was home cooking, lots of comfort foods with occasional leanings toward ethnic or French. Unless a special request from one of the girls, everything was made from scratch except breads from the bakery and frozen yogurt. Most of the time we’d have menus like this: Veal Paprika, Spaetzle, Carrots Veronique with brandy glaze, Green Salad, Lemon Mousse. But the food was varied…we might also have a vegetarian meal, a picnic, a birthday or holiday dinner, make your own taco salad or pizza night, all-breakfast or all appetizer meals. Like you, we hosted date nights, bring a friend, and provided late plates for anyone who couldn’t make dinner on time. It took only a short time to learn that this sorority had the reputation on campus for being the “anorexic” sorority. Two of the three chapter presidents were anorexic during my time there. Late plates became a tool for their disease, as they would sign up for a late plate and not eat it. Strangely, they never threw the food away but left it in the fridge for a “later” that never came. A cry for help? There were some lovely house girls, especially the first two years, but my experience in the third year is what I want to talk about. The only thing the third-year girls cared about was whether food was fat free. They requested a green salad every single night, with (what else?) fat-free-bought dressing. (There went the Waldorf salad, homemade applesauce, cole slaw, marinated cucumbers, watermelon with celery nut dressing, carrot-pineapple salad and all the other fruits and salads that the girls had liked in previous years.) They loved Oven Fish Chowder the first time we served it, but by the time it was posted on the menu again someone had sneaked into the kitchen and read the recipe, learned that it contained butter and cream, and announced to me no one would eat it. Towards the end of the year, they were starting to reject foods they had previously eaten, like meat loaf, and waiting to tell me about it after the food was cooked and on the table. Yes, two of them were deliberately mean, even though I gave them everything they asked for. The house furnished breakfast cereal, milk, juice and eggs (I refused to buy egg beaters so they never ate the eggs) for breakfasts. They were supposed to buy their own groceries and cook for themselves at lunch and the remaining 3 dinners a week, unless they ate out, but there was one girl who simply lived on the house cereal. Six girls would go through about 7 or 8 boxes of cereal a week. One girl was vegetarian except for chicken breast, and hated most everything, but she ate candy bars all day. These girls simply believed that if they ate fat they would be fat, and that carbohydrates did not count. Some of these girls saw food as evil and me the enemy trying to force them to eat. While I love to food-pamper people who appreciate it, these girls did not. It was not fun anymore, and while I try not to be soured on the experience, it’s difficult. I have to keep remembering the girls who thought they were the luckiest college students on campus.

If dessert is to be part of a buffet table, I make my Secret Baklava Tarts. The secret is that they are so easy to make, you can't possibly give the recipe to anyone or they'll never again be impressed by something you make. Buy a couple packages of filo pre-made tart shells (15 per package). Place on baking sheet. Fill shells to heaping with chopped, toasted pecans. Top each with a half teaspoon of sugar and a thin slice of unsalted butter. Bake at 325 until tart shells start to brown. Make a recipe of baklava syrup and pour over. You'll need about half the amount you'd need for a pan of baklava. Serve in frilly paper cups if you have them. When kids are present and I need a quantity of dessert, I make a Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake. If you're a surprise dinner guest, I'll make a stove top fruit dumpling with whipped cream. Probably blueberry unless peaches are in season. Or a brownie pie.

Using butter to thicken a sauce. Butter melts. It's not supposed to thicken, but magically it does.

I learned to cook with Julia Child when French food was in vogue. Still love anything with cream and butter...I'm not too fond of vegetables, but put one in a cream sauce with buttered crumbs and I'll gladly make it my entire dinner. Quiches and crepes are favorites, too.

In the new line of "mousses" the Vanilla Mousse and Chocolate Mousse are two of the best ice creams ever packaged IMO. Hard to get, though, because mostly I find the fancier sounding kinds like Strawberry Cheesecake and these are not too good. In the standard flavors, I like Coffee.

Statements like this always set me on edge. Care to back it up with a menu you would consider up-to-date for this decade? (What is this decade called, anyway...the oughts?...the naughts?)