Best Cookbook Ever!

I should've posted this before Christmas so you could have all put it on your wish lists. It is hands-down the most important and useful cookbook on the planet. Originally published in 1931 by Irma Rombauer, this book is the source for almost anything you want to know. The newer versions have been expanded to fit modern tastes and diets, including more international and vegetarian recipes.

I have close to 40 cookbooks, but this is the one I use all the time because it has everything; from pancakes to paella, clam chowder to cornbread, gumbo to gravy, beef wellington to borscht, strawberry pie to succotash, and just about everything else you can imagine. And since the book has been in a constant state of refinement for almost 80 years, you can be sure that all the recipes are pretty good.

In addition to the recipes, it has all sorts of useful information like instructions for various cooking methods, conversion tables, substitution ideas (Yes Vicki, you can use 1 cup of regular flour, 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt instead of one cup of self-rising flour), and a section called "know your ingredients" that you can refer to anytime you come across some unknown ingredient in a recipe.

If you don't already own it, this should be your next purchase.

Frosting Recipes

OK--here are a couple of my favorite recipes for frosting. The execution on both recipes is very simple, so I'm certain that all of you are capable of either.

The first is for the tastiest chocolate frosting I've ever had. The recipe is from The Joy of Cooking (which is is something I need to post about in the near future). The frosting is perfectly rich, not too sweet nor heavy. If you like butter than you will especially love this. It is glossy and a beautiful, dark chocolate color. Here's a picture from a couple of years ago so you can get an idea of what it looks like.

So here's the recipe:

In a double boiler (see below for an explanation), melt 6 oz of semi-sweet chocolate (that's half a bag of chocolate chips) with 6 tbsp. of milk and 1 tsp. of vanilla. Once the chocolate is melted, remove from heat and stir in 6 tbsp. of butter (that's 3/4 of a stick). Stir it until the butter is melted and cool it until it's stiff enough to stand up but still soft enought to spread without destroying your cake. That's it! So easy, huh? I don't remember exactly how much cake this will frost, but it will at least do the top, sides and 1 layer of filling for a 9-inch circle.

So--about double boilers. They're used to gently heat things by placing a container over a pan of simmering water. You can buy a nice set like the one on the left, or just put a metal or glass bowl on top of a sauce pan like the picture on the right.

Just make sure that the bowl isn't touching the water and make the water simmer, not boil. This is especially important for chocolate because if it gets too hot, it will break, meaning that the cocoa butter will separate from the other parts and you'll have a nasty, unusable mess.

Recipe number two: Raspberry Whipped Cream

I think that whipped cream makes some of the best frosting. The melting point of butter (and therefore whipped cream) is about 90 degrees, compared to about 94 for margarine and 98 or more for shortening. This means that whipped cream and butter-based frostings melt quickly in your mouth and do not have the tendency to coat the inside of you mouth like shortening. Plus, the whipped cream is obviously full of air so it's of course very light.

Simply whip 1 1/2 cups of HEAVY cream until it's stiff enough to stand up on its own. When it starts to stiffen, stop beating frequently and turn you beaters upside down. As soon as its stiff enough that the whipped cream doesn't fall, you're done. Then take 1 cup of seedless raspberry jam and mix it up so it's smooth and has no lumps. Add the jam and a few drops of red food coloring if you want (I did for this cake) to the cream and gently fold it in. Store it, covered, in the fridge until you're ready to put it on the cake. This recipe was enough for the top, sides, and 3 layers in the middle of this 7-inch cake. To do a bigger cake, you could increase the cream to 1 pint and the jam to 10 0z.

The deal with electric knives--They are not a necessity. For leveling tops and splitting layers, a long slicer works great. If you have to straighten edges, however, an electric knife greatly simplifies things.

How to do the squiggles on the cake below--This was my first try and if you look closely it is evident. I just used the chocolate recipe from above and used the fine, round tip on a pastry bag and started swirling, trying to cover all the area wihtout overlapping. The sides were a little trickier and took a few tries to get it right. I had to kind of press the chocolate firmly into the frosting to get it to stick. If you just did the squiggles on top and left the sides bare, it would save you a lot of trouble and would still look cool.

A trick for cutting brownies

I'm sure you've had the experience of cutting brownies and having most of the pan stick to your knife. This is particularly problematic when you make brownies from a mix as they tend to be chewier and stickier than the from-scratch varieties.
So here's a little trick that will end your troubles: Use a plastic knife to cut your brownies. They are the best tool available for the job--simple but effective. So next time you're at KFC, or Cafe Rio, or whatever, keep the knife and toss it in your gadget drawer.

Best way to Zest

Sorry for the extended absence. I'm out of town, but blogging from my parents' house.
So, some people were wondering about the best way to zest so here's my input:
There are several different styles of zesters available, but the best ones are definitely made by a company called Microplane.
The tool was originally made for carpentry but people started using it for cooking so the company started putting comfortable handles on them and making different shapes and sizes specifically for food. This tool is so great because it just barely shaves off the flavorful outer skin of citrus while leaving behind all the bitter, white stuff. It also works well for hard cheeses, garlic, and especially fresh ginger.

Another popular zester is this version:

I don't recommend this version for making zest that you will use in recipes because it takes off too much of the white part and leaves too much of the orange part. It also leaves you with long strips that you have to mince before using. It does, however, work nicely for making decorations. The little curly strips of zest would look nice on top of a chocolate cupcake or the whipped cream on top of hot chocolate.

To most people, the idea of being passionate about a whisk might seem ludicrous, but alas, I find myself in awe of the wooden and stainless perfection of this specific whisk. The brand is aptly named "Best." I'm telling you that if you're ever going to buy a whisk (and if you don't have one you should), this is the one to buy. It is perfectly weighted and the wires are perfectly shaped (I prefer french to balloon-shaped), so using this whisk is a sort of therapeutic break from modern, electric, culinary comforts. Here's a picture of mine:

They're epoxy sealed where the wires go into the handles and all the metal is stainless, so water can't get up into the holes in the wood and they don't rust or fall apart.

I know most of you are just shaking your heads and thinking, "The perfect whisk? This guy is nuts" but I'm telling you, it's great.

I found it online at the kitchen store where I used to work for $9.95.

The website is: allysonsofashland.com

While we're on the subject of whisks, you may have seen the whisks with silicon-coated wires and wondered what purpose they serve. They are for when you need to whisk something in a non-stick pan. NEVER USE ANY METAL ON A NON-STICK SURFACE. If you are nice to your Teflon, it will last a very long time. If you scratch it up with knives, metal spatulas, the bottoms of other pans (that's right--don't stack things on top of your non-stick stuff), or even something as seemingly harmless as an uncoated whisk, you will soon end up with little bits of Teflon in your omelettes that look like, but do not taste like, pepper. Your pans will turn from non-stick to everything sticks. That is why you may want to consider investing in a silicon-coated whisk as well--same brand of course.

Happy whisking!