Smokeydoke

Like on the coils? That sounds awful. I'll be honest, I love Mozza, the restaurant, but I'm not impressed with Silverton's cookbooks. I'm glad I didn't run out and buy Mozza at Home, I am a sucker for Californian cuisine.

Is the new restaurant going to focus on foraging too?

Sure! I'll play. My recent go-to has been Dorie Greenspan. I just made her World-Peace cookies and they are amazing, best cookies ever, imo. I've also made her Crispy Cookie bars which were amazing. She's batting 1000, can't wait to try more recipes, not to mention she gives good instructions in her recipes. I've also been cooking from Polpo, a Venetian cookbook. I've had mixed results but mostly positive. And lastly, I've been smitten with Smitten Kitchen. Blogs rarely interest me, but her recipes work! They've all been very good so far and it's free! You can check out my EYB to read all my reviews. I try to update everytime I cook something new. I'm not as enamored with Land of Fish and Rice but I've only tried a handful of recipes. I'm much more interested in her Sichuan cooking book.

Just finished Hot Bread Kitchen and Polpo. I wasn't as impressed as others. I can't believe Hot Bread Kitchen won Food52's cookbook of the year. My next cookbook will be The London Cookbook. I'm looking forward to it.

I'd love to purchase some jams if you have any leftover!

It looks very Christmas-y with the green and red. Love it.

That is ingenious. I'm stealing.

Those look delicious. I've never had them before. I think that'll be my next project.

I tried making mango bread this weekend. It was interesting. I'm not going to share the recipe because it was off in so many places. But the gist of it was pureed mangoes, coconuts, craisins and pecans. If I ever make this again, I'd use mangoes, coconut, dried pineapple and macadamia nuts and rename it Hawaiian bread.

Congratulations! Your menu was very creative.

Pizza using Alton Brown's pizza dough. Tasty! I got a KitchenAid Mixer for Christmas (shhh... Santa came early), so I'm happy to be making pizzas and breads again.

Irvin Lin's Glazed Orange Cookies, or as he calls them, Best Christmas Cookies Ever. They were ok, I didn't think they were the "best". They were a lot of work. If I ever make them again, it'll only be for Christmas. It tasted like a doughnut and a biscotti had a lovechild. My cookie swap got canceled, so this might be it for me this year. I really dislike making cookies. I'd much rather be making cakes and pies.

Roasted Garlic & Onion Jam, around $3. Very tasty! But very sweet. I'm at a loss what to do with it. I've been eating it with pita chips but there has to be something better. Maybe in a sandwich?

Yesterday, I made Flour's Famous Banana Bread. It was good. I don't know if it's my *favorite*. I'm still looking for my favorite. Pic below. Recipe here. My favorite quick bread of-the-now is Gjelina's Kabocha, Olive Oil and Chocolate cake. It is fabulous. I can't explain it, it's almost an earthy taste, I've honestly never tasted anything like it before. Recipe here

That looks amazing. I've never had mango bread. I have to try it.

Pickled (Napa) Cabbage p. 48 Another winner! It tasted (like) kim chee but was so quick and easy. Meehan devoted few pages to vegetable pickling but the cabbage seemed the easiest. Just add cabbage, salt, chilies and vinegar, let it sit two days, flip the cabbage after the first day. It tasted great and was ready to eat by day two (I think this only works with cabbage). I'm really excited about this book, the more I read it, the more I liked it. It had challenging recipes, useful information I had never read before, ingredients I'd never seen before and most importantly, recipes that had been delicious. I know Lucky Peach is hit and miss but so far I'm impressed with this book and I'm glad I tried some recipes from it.

Bump for 2016!

Green pak choy with dried shrimps You can find the recipe here. This is a very basic recipe. This is my second time making it, I'm having a hard time getting the pak choy to cook the way she wrote it (recipe asked for quartered pak choy). Maybe American pak choy is too big? The leaves got withered but the stems would not cook through unless it braised for a few minutes. I admit, it looks nothing like her photo. I ended up removing each stalk, then quartering the big ones. They seemed to cook faster. I'll be honest, not too impressed with the recipes. This might be it for me. I know I should try the harder ones, but I'll let other post before I invest more time.

Here is the discussion thread. Here is the Amazon link. My first recipe was Mushroom Mapo Tofu p. 132 I was blown away by how good this tasted. Very spicy! Very authentic. I didn't miss the meat at all. I told Mr. Smokey I'd add ground pork next time and he said it didn't need it. Mr. Smokey refused pork? Ha! Definitely a keeper and maybe a regular rotation spot. If I had anything negative to say, it would be the dish wasn't very filling. The recipe is suppose to serve four but the two of us finished it off, no problem, and Mister wasn't full afterwards. A soup, or an appetizer could be paired with the dish to make a heartier meal. Note: I did receive a complimentary copy of the book to review, but all opinions of the book and recipes are mine.

Anna, that looks amazing!

Interesting. This is the second fried rice from this book I've tried and both have been very different than their American counterpart. The Chinese fried rice tastes much healthier and lighter.

This is my first time cooking from a Fuchsia Dunlop cookbook and I just wanted to comment that her recipes are simple and elegant, most are not hard and they don't require many ingredients outside of a decently stocked Asian pantry.

Golden scrambled eggs with shrimp p. 121 Shanghai fried rice with salt pork and green bok choy p.243 Both dishes are very simple and easy to make. The scrambled eggs is a matter of frying the shrimp in an egg white, then adding it to the eggs and spring onions. It is delicious in its simplicity. Shanghai fried rice is basically pancetta (I used bacon) with onions and chopped bok choy, then fried with rice and some pantry staples. Very basic, a bit bland for my Westernized taste, it tastes just like the fried rice they serve at dim sum restaurants. Interesting to note, there's no egg and no soy sauce. It is seasoned with sesame oil, salt and pepper.

Unfortunately, no. Mr. Smokey works at the book factory and I've inherited a lot of books from him, most he has not read, but for one reason or another has accumulated. He wanted a decent cookbook collection that was a source of information, rather than finding recipes he could cook from. He's more a collector than a foodie. That's why I have so many reference cookbooks (if you look on my EYB account). I've 2 editions of Culinary Institute of America, I have every Julia Child book, I've got every America's Test Kitchen, all the Modernist Cuisines, Joy of Cooking, Joy of Baking, Fannie Farmer, etc... I read maybe 10% of that. But I'm getting excited to read the Modernist Cuisines after browsing the threads.

What cookbooks do you love to cook out of at home? Anything by Suzanne Goin. Is there a specific recipe that is your favorite? That is a hard one. I like 90% of her recipes, 50% are fantastic and challenge me as a cook. Or is there a book you just can't live without? Don't laugh, but here's the cookbooks I've used for over a decade: Ms. Field's (remember her? great recipes), Martin Yan (I love his stuff, I refer to Quick and Easy at least once a month), Julia Child (I have them all, I use Julia's Kitchen the most), and my Costco cookbooks! I love my Costco cookbooks and if I'm honest, I use them the most for day-to-day cooking. Must-have? As in I-really-like-it but I don't use it all the time? I like the Zuni cookbook, although honestly, I never cook out of it. Gjelina is another fun one for California cuisine. I love Batali's books too. Food Lab is another good, fascinating read, as is the Modernist Cuisine books (I have them all, and honestly, have not read a single one). But I'm hoping eGullet's threads will motivate me.