Every weekend, I review a cookbook in an attempt to lend some guidance in a field that has become overrun. These days everyone is writing cookbooks and it is incredibly upsetting to buy a dud and have it sit on your shelf for years – staring at you, mocking your poor judgment.
See that red and gold sticker in the right corner of this book? That’s the James Beard Foundation Cookbook of the Year Award. The black and gold sticker? That would be the IACP Cookbook of the Year Award. Clearly I’m not the first one to rank “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart very highly.
Even though it came out 8 years ago, it is still one of the best baking books I’ve seen and so I thought I would introduce you to it in case you don’t already own it.
What is it About Bread? The first few pages of this book really appealed to the philosopher in me. Most breads have only four ingredients and yet we, as humans, have been trying to perfect the combination of those four ingredients for over 6,000 years. When you think about the history of a baguette, it is pretty astounding.
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When I open up a new Bon Appetit, I usually read it in reverse. That’s because the last page in each issue lists all the recipes in that issue. It saves me a lot of time, because let’s be honest, I rarely care about anything that isn’t a recipe in a food magazine.
The first recipe that grabbed me was the lemon poppy seed muffins. Their recipe called for making “mini-muffins.” I’m not normally a “mini” kind of guy. What’s the point really? I mean, I just end up eating 4 of them instead of one normal muffin and it is a lot more work. I have to butter 4 things instead of 1. Annoying.
I wanted to make them though, and I know that Betsy does like to snack on the mini versions so I ended up making a few different sizes.
Nice Muffins.
It looks like there are three different sizes of muffins, but really there are just two. The medium sized ones should look like the big one in the front, but I underestimated the amount of batter. Oh well. They all tasted the same.
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Last weekend was the prime bloom for the Cherry Blossoms here in DC (Thanks Japan!) It was such an awesome, sunny day that despite the horrible crowds, Bets and I decided to make the trip down to check out the scene.
Below are a few photos that I snapped along the way.
That bird.
Kind of a striking skyline.
Lots. Of. People.
Ok. Now for some links!
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If there’s one thing that I have had in the back of my mind for the last few months that I really wanted to try it is making my own sausage. Some people may consider it gross, but I think the exact opposite. In fact, if I’m going to eat sausage I would rather it be homemade because A) I can follow the meat and B) I know exactly what went into it and under what conditions.
What more could you want? Unfortunately, my kitchen really isn’t equipped for such things so this nagging dream of mine has just sat on the back burner for awhile. That was until Rex of Savory Reviews called me up and invited me over to make some homemade Bratwurst.
My response was: “Yes. When and what time and how many beers can you safely consume?”
After about 5 hours of work, with plenty of breaks, we ended up with these beauties.
Would you buy these or what?
Obviously, I’d never done this before. Turns out that Rex really hadn’t done it before either although he did take a class at Sur La Table and we had a few tips from his Dad. We were pretty confident that we could handle it and produce something edible. We were so right.
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If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can come out of hundreds of battles without danger. — The Art of War
This is how I feel about junk food. In general, I don’t eat junk food, but there are a few things that I enjoy on occasion and I think that is just fine. As with many things, as long as you practice moderation and “know your enemy” then you can have the occasional treat and still maintain a healthy diet.
Before I give my list of 10 sins, it is important to note that almost anything that is in the grocery store these days is processed. Except for most items in the produce section (notice I say most), a lot of what we consume is “processed.” This includes things like milk and frozen peas which are good for you and can definitely be a part of a healthy diet.
This post, though, is about the section of processed foods that people think of when they think of processed foods. Mostly this includes junk foods processed with high fructose corn syrup or fried or in some other way enhanced.
Why am I writing this post? Well, because I think it is important to acknowledge your enemies! These are things that I really enjoy and as long as I recognize that they are treats and not what I should be eating everyday, then I think it is fine for me to have them. Keep in mind that I also exercise a few times a week and walk 3 miles round trip to work everyday so my daily calorie count is a bit forgiving.
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When I got a challenge from Sheila and Ryan of Live Well 360, I was really excited. They make really great recipes (along with tons of other helpful information), so I knew they would be fun to battle. Be sure to go look at their dish before voting! You can use the form at the bottom of this post or the form in their post to vote for your favorite.
For each battle there are two ingredients. Each competitor gets to pick an ingredient. This battle’s ingredients: Anchovies and Oyster Mushrooms.
The chosen ones.
These ingredients are tough. First, neither of them are ones that I have used a lot. Second, when I have used them I usually eat them in their most basic form. I love anchovies on a bit of toast. I love oyster mushrooms sauteed in butter. Using them as ingredients is tricky. Third, oyster mushrooms have a pretty mild flavor and anchovies have a stronger flavor that I was worried would overpower the shrooms.
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Every weekend, I review a cookbook in an attempt to lend some guidance in a field that has become overrun. These days everyone is writing cookbooks and it is incredibly upsetting to buy a dud and have it sit on your shelf for years – staring at you, mocking your poor judgment.
It’s hard to imagine a city in America that is more food oriented than New Orleans. I mean, I’ve never even been there (blasphemy I know) and I still know that to be true. Sure. There is good food in New York, but the people in New Orleans live for food.
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