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Book Reviews

28
May 2012
Book Reviews Dessert

Humphry Slocombe’s Ice Cream Book and Butter Beer (at Home!)

There's really only one thing to say about Humphry Slocombe's Butter Beer ice cream: OMFG. It's not hyperbole. It's not even sucking up, this ice cream is really that good. It's ridiculous. And hold the phone, I didn't get this scoop at the shop, I made it. At home. From the new book - the Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream Book. Now, if you're already a Humphry Slocombe fan, I know what you're saying, "What, you didn't start with Secret Breakfast?" I love me some Secret Breakfast and Blue Bottle Vietnamese Coffee, but I said, "We gotta go for one of the deep cuts. And it shall be Butter Beer." This isn't the Butter Beer you're thinking of, it's a combo of their Stout and Brown Butter ice creams, and it's not one for the kiddies.
29
Mar 2012
Baking Book Reviews

Banana Date Cake (Vegan)

This week, I've been in overdrive catching up on Mad Men so that I'm up to speed for season 5. And now I've got '60s-era food on the brain. But rather than torture myself with some kind of terrible aspic with vegetables in it, I decided on a date cake. Flipping through some of my vintage cookbooks I discovered we used to eat a lot more date cake and date bread than I realized. It's even in an episode of Mad Men, one where Don Draper is having a tete-a-tete with Sally's teacher in season 3. She's made three loaves of date nut bread for a school bake sale.
06
Feb 2012
Book Reviews Recipes Side Dishes

Bulghur Pilaf from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty

Getting more whole grains in your diet is easier than ever with the wide availability of bulghur, quinoa, barley and spelt, but it's also easy to fall into a rut with the most basic preparations for these grains. My regular bulghur pilaf is pretty simple, relying on onion, crimini mushrooms and chicken stock for its flavor. That simplicity makes it a great side dish when your main, say baked chicken, has a more dominant flavor profile. But why should a side dish have to take a back seat?
15
Oct 2011
Book Reviews Recipes

Coffee-Chipotle Brisket Sliders

It felt good to be back in the kitchen this week. And it felt good to switch gears and really get into some cool-weather cooking. We're already in our pattern of rainy (or overcast) days and we're barely getting into the 60s. But I can't complain, it's time to break out the sweaters and turn on the oven. That's why this week's project was Lisa Fain's Coffee-Chipotle Brisket from The Homesick Texan Cookbook. I can already tell this book will get a place of honor in the kitchen and that some other is going to get kicked down to our bookcases downstairs.
14
Oct 2011
Baking Book Reviews Recipes

Milk Bread Yeast Rolls: Yeah, I Made This!

About 10 years ago there was a PBS reality show, Frontier House, where a bunch of modern day Americans were taken out to Montana to live as frontiers-people did in the 1880s. And other than the guy who built a house from the ground up for his bride, the woman I remember best was a baker. If there's a skill that's valuable and will keep an early settlement going (other than building shelter!), it's being able to grind wheat into flour and bake loaves of bread by feel, by memory. I'm not a baker by instinct, I'm a baker by following instructions, particularly when it comes to breads. Wolf has always been the baker around our house. I've found myself better at biscuits, my patience suited to a quick knead and cutting out biscuits.
22
Aug 2011
Baking Book Reviews Recipes

Chewy Chocolate Macaroons

If you like coconut, there's almost no better use for it than macaroons. It's such a pure coconut experience, colored only by maybe a little almond extract or in my case, a good dose of lemon zest. But after spying this chewy chocolate macaroon recipe in Terry Walters' Clean Start, those pure thoughts went by the wayside. There seemed no reason not to go full bore, mixing in a good bit of chocolate, rather than just doing a dip.
26
Jul 2011
Book Reviews Recipes

Zoku Popsicle Maker: Lemon Buttermilk Sherbet Pops

I must have looked for David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop for almost 6 months at my fave used bookstore, thinking a copy would turn up eventually. It never did. And now I know why! You'd be crazy to give up this book! Covering ice cream, gelati, sorbetti, granitas and a full spectrum of accompanying sauces, The Perfect Scoop offers a mix of more traditional (chocolate & peanut butter, rum raisin, chocolate sorbet) and not-so-traditional flavors (orange-Szechuan peppercorn, pear-pecorino, roquefort-honey). If it tastes great on its own, why not in ice cream? The book is a must for anyone who likes frozen treats, dairy or non-.