I just can't seem to . . . .

[Suzanne F]

and a great way to recycle any extra dryer lint you haven't found a use for yet.

Um, what other uses might there be?

Dana: YES, Wondra flour is great for coating fish! One of my favorite bistros dips skate in milk, then in Wondra, and gets a perfect crust (I learned the trick when I trailed there).

[project]

Biscuits:

 

There are two standard classic 'baking' skills that

are very similar and that I learned from my dad.

One is biscuits, and the other is pie crust. In

both cases, the main secret is not to work the dough

very much. In one step more detail, a 'good' result

is light and flaky, but the flakes come from pieces

of fat that were NOT mixed very well.

 

Recently the fresh strawberries available in my area

got me to do some cases of strawberry shortcake.

Now the shortcake is just a slightly sweetened

biscuit dough baked as one piece instead of several.

 

I got out some old notes dictated by my dad as my

wife and I were eating lunch with him in a Hot

Shoppes in DC. I took the notes on the back of a

Hot Shoppes paper place mat. To double check the

notes, I got out our inherited copy of

 

  Ruth Berolzheimer, 'The American Woman's

  Cookbook', Consolidated Book Publishers,

  Chicago, 1939.

 

Originally this was done at Cornell. Congratula-

tions on their doing something so useful and

practical -- they used to!

 

There on page 547 I found what was likely the

original source for Dad's recipe. This book listed

this recipe as "Old Fashioned". On page 554 they

also had a newer or fancy one, with eggs, creaming

butter and sugar, etc., but such nonsense is not

necessary. The old version is fine.

 

I checked out several other sources, did some

trials, discovered that a new can of baking powder

does significantly better than one I first opened

about 10 years ago, and settled on:

 

  Shortcake

 

  Preheat oven to 450 F.

 

  Take an aluminum cake pan, commercial

  style, with vertical sides, inside

  diameter 8", and inside depth 2", coat

  inside with Crisco, add 1/3 C all-purpose

  flour, tilt pan to coat Crisco with flour,

  invert pan over sink, tap to knock out

  excess flour, and set aside in a cool

  place.

 

  3 C all-purpose flour

 

  2 T baking powder

 

  2 T sugar

 

  1 t salt

 

  1/2 C cold Crisco

 

  1 1/2 C cold milk

 

  Sift flour and measure 3 C by spooning sifted

  flour into cup and striking level.

 

  Sift dry ingredients together through three

  screen sifter three times.

 

  Add dry ingredients to a 2 quart mixing

  bowl. Cut Crisco in with pastry blender.

  Add milk to make a damp sticky dough

  (depending on moisture level in flour, may

  need a little less or a little more than

  the 1 1/2 C milk). In bottom of mixing

  bowl, gather dough into a ball. Flour

  exterior of ball. Holding dough in

  floured hands, make a smooth thick

  cylinder. Add dough to cake pan and

  spread to edges and leave top surface

  slightly convex (depressed).

 

  Bake in oven for 24 minutes or until top is

  lightly browned.

 

This dough baked in such a hot oven comes out plenty

good. Some of the goodness is from the browning on

top.

 

The last time I did this, the cake rose about 1/3"

above the top of the cake pan.

 

This recipe is simple: So, here there is just

all-purpose flour and no butter, cream, buttermilk,

eggs, etc. Still, it's plenty good.

 

Net, this cooking is good for people working very

quickly before dawn trying to get a big breakfast

for a crew of hungry farm workers. This baking is

supposed to be fast and easy, and it is.

 

The secret to getting results that rise high and are

light, delicate, and flaky is to avoid mixing the

dough very much, which is good for people in a hurry

to feed a big crew.

 

The first part of this secret is to use a 'pastry

blender' which is a simple kitchen gadget generally

shaped like a U with about six parallel wires or

blades forming the bottom of the U and a simple

handle across the top of the U.

 

The idea is that the wires or blades will cut the

fat and let flour coat the cut fat.

 

It is possible to do just as well, although taking a

little more time, with a dinner knife and a dinner

fork: Hold the fork upside down in the right hand

with knife in the left hand. Cross these two in the

bowl with the fork on one side of a lump of fat and

the knife on the other. Then cut, using the fork to

push the lump in one direction and cutting with the

knife in the opposite direction.

 

When the largest piece of uncut fat is about the

size of a pea, STOP.

 

Then, pour in nearly all the milk at once. If

recent experience with flour supply lets you know

how much milk is needed, then pour that amount in

all at once. Use a fork to mix to get a damp sticky

dough.

 

The second part of the secret is, mix as little as

possible. And, when handling the dough in the

hands, do this as little as possible.

 

Don't need a pastry board, a rolling pin, to let the

dough 'rest' in the refrigerator, or any other such

nonsense. Just get on with it, quickly.

 

And, I have no idea how an electrically powered

machine could be useful here. Just getting the

dough out of the machine could represent more

handling of the dough than is advisable.

 

Usually to make individual biscuits, just put the

dough on a floured flat surface, mash it down to

maybe 1/2" thick, and use a simple 'biscuit cutter',

possibly homemade from a metal can, to cut round

pieces. Then put these on a cookie sheet. There is

enough fat in the dough so that as flat biscuits

they usually will not stick to a clean cookie sheet.

 

Also, for ordinary biscuits, omit the sugar.

 

Also, one reason to have a damp sticky dough is so

that a shortcake can come out nicely as one piece

without a lot of cracks. That is, with dry dough,

it can be difficult to get it to stick to itself,

and the result can be cracks. But, for biscuits, a

drier dough will likely cut more cleanly with a

biscuit cutter. With a little practice, should be

able to cut back a little on the milk, make a drier

dough, still have the dough hold together enough for

individual biscuits, and have the biscuit cutter

work more cleanly.

 

For a shortcake, I wanted nicely formed sides; for

this I wanted to use a cake pan; and I found that to

grease and flour the cake pan was important or the

cake would stick.

 

To continue with the strawberry theme, this recipe

makes a SHORTcake, which is not like a sponge cake,

genoise, American cake with creamed butter and

sugar, etc. With strawberries, it's terrific.

Somehow the browned flavor of the cake goes well

with the strawberries. And, the syrup from the

strawberries soaks into the cake and makes it

awesomely good.

 

To make such a dessert, as soon as the cake is

baked, I put it right side up on a clean cutting

board. Then, I cut the cake in half horizontally:

For this, I start by using a small knife with a

sharp point to get the cut started; I cut about 1"

deep through the side crust at the desired height

all around the cake. Then I use a long thin roast

slicing knife, with both ends of the knife always

visible to make the cuts deeper all the way around

until I have cut all the way through to the center.

Works fine.

 

With the two pieces cut side up, I dot with fresh

unsalted butter. I make the butter dots by using a

vegetable peeler on a stick of cold butter held in a

butter dish.

 

For the strawberries, I start with about 60 ounces

of sliced fresh strawberries and add 1 1/2 C sugar.

 

Then, I cover the first half of cake with

strawberries, top with the second half (both halves

cut side up), and cover with the rest of the

strawberries.

 

I am working on the 'architecture' of how to get in

more strawberries and how to make the resulting

assembly more stable. But, it's pretty good as it

is.

 

One standard addition is some heavy cream, possibly

whipped. In my area of NYS, there is now Ronnybrook

Heavy Cream, in glass bottles, bottled on the farm.

My experience is that this whips up nice and firm

and STAYS whipped and firm unusually long. But,

where I buy it, it is about $8 a quart, which

definitely makes it a premium product. The label

does not state the butter fat content.

 

Also, my dad's proportions were for a shortcake

recipe with 2/3rds of the recipe above, still 8" in

diameter. So, he ended up with a thinner cake. The

thicker cake is easier to work with, but I may

return to the original thinner one.

 

[Marlene]

Ceasar salad dressing. I've never mastered the art of making it by hand, and when making it in a blender, it comes out runny instead of nice and thick, even though I've been told the secret is adding the oil very very slowly. It doesn't work, at least not for me!

[Andy Lynes]

Oh you remembered.

I can't remember which recipe I last tried.  It all starts to go wrong at the stage where you slowly drip in the oil.  But I expect you guessed that.

Most recipes say you must pour the oil in a steady stream and whisk continuously, many saying that getting a friend to help will ensure it all works out, i.e one pours slowy the others whisks.

Well, maybe. I have certainly helped to make hollandaise using this method, but for mayonnaise I have never found it necessary. Just dribble a bit in, give it a whisk, a little more, whisk some more and increase the amount as you go. Maybe it was the "continuous" thing that has messed you up in the past?

[torakris]

Cream puffs. I can not make cream puffs!

Ask me to bake anything else and it's no problem, ask for cream puffs and you'll get mini hockey pucks. I have completely given up on these.

[BettyK]

Oh you remembered.

I can't remember which recipe I last tried.  It all starts to go wrong at the stage where you slowly drip in the oil.  But I expect you guessed that.

Most recipes say you must pour the oil in a steady stream and whisk continuously, many saying that getting a friend to help will ensure it all works out, i.e one pours slowy the others whisks.

Well, maybe. I have certainly helped to make hollandaise using this method, but for mayonnaise I have never found it necessary. Just dribble a bit in, give it a whisk, a little more, whisk some more and increase the amount as you go. Maybe it was the "continuous" thing that has messed you up in the past?

I agree with Andy. Don't know why all recipes say to pour in a steady stream. It just doesn't work for me.

At one time I even had a food processor with a little hole in the "pusher". I thought it would work like a dream but it was a total disaster. The oil was pouring much faster than needed. Anyway, after a few failures, I finally realised that I had to pour the oil as slow as possible. So now I use a little teaspoon and I watch that the mayonnaise has absorbed the oil before I add more. (very important). Teaspoon by teaspoon. Haven't had any failure since I use this technique. Of course all ingredients must be at room temperature.