What do you do with vanilla bean pods, once you’ve scraped out the vanilla? Save them, and make vanilla-flavored sugar. Place the empty bean pods into a bowl of sugar. Then leave for two-three weeks, letting the flavor of the vanilla bean seep into the sugar. It will keep indefinitely. Another method is to dry [...]
Archive for July, 2008
Vanilla Sugar
Posted in Recipes, tagged Vanilla Beans, Vanilla Sugar, What to do with vanilla bean pods on July 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Fun Facts about Baking Powder
Posted in Fun Facts, tagged About Baking Powder, Baking Powder, Double Acting Versus Single Acting Baking Powder, Fun Facts about Baking Powder on July 26, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Baking powder is a leavener usually made up of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), an acid salt (which reacts with moisture or heat, or both – such as tartaric acid, mono-calcium or combination of acid salts), and cornstarch (a filler used to keep the ingredients separated; it also absorbs moisture which prevents premature action).
Double-acting baking powder [...]
Brownies
Posted in Recipes, tagged Brownie recipe, Brownies, chocolate cake on July 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Brownies are a quintessentially American dessert. They’re not particularly beautiful: the top always cracks, the sides often crumble. They look very homemade. Er, rustic. But then you taste. A bite of the chewy chocolate cake and the brownie becomes worth further consideration.
The name ‘brownie’ is thought to be based on the color, and the mythical [...]
Iced Tea Tips and Tricks
Posted in Recipes, tagged Earl Grey Iced Tea, Herbal Iced Tea, Iced Tea, Iced Tea Tips and Tricks, Summer Beverages on July 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
As the temperature and humidity spike in New York, cool beverages are the order of the day. Here’s an easy iced tea you can sip all afternoon long.
For two quarts of tea, I generally use three black tea bags to one herbal bag. The herbal tea lightens the flavor a bit. You can use [...]
Fun Facts About Pectin
Posted in Fun Facts, tagged Fruit, Jam, Jelly, June Taylor, June Taylor video, Natural Pectin, Pectin on July 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
-It is a naturally occurring carbohydrate in fruit. It acts as a stabilizer and a gelling and thickening agent in food.
-Pectin is from the Greek pektikos, meaning “congealed” or “curdled.”
-Concentrated in the fruits’ skin and core, pectin binds cells together. The tougher parts of the fruit contain more pectin, and as fruit ripens and cell [...]
Corn, Potato & Green Bean Salad
Posted in Recipes, tagged Corn, Corn Potato & Green Bean Salad, Green Bean, Potato on July 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
My refrigerator is stuffed full of produce from the greenmarket. There are lettuce leaves and green beans in the crisper, potatoes and peaches on the counter, and ears of corn crying out to be husked.
For a cool summer salad, meant to last several days, and to showcase the fresh corn and green beans, I decided [...]
Traditional Irish Soda Bread
Posted in Recipes, tagged A Baker's Odyssey, Buttermilk Quickbread, Quickbread, Soda Bread, Traditional Irish Soda Bread, Yogurt Quickbread on July 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Irish soda bread is a quick bread in which baking soda is used as a leavening agent. Traditionally, it’s a savory bread, made with wheat flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk. Nuts or raisins can be added. The following is a traditional soda bread recipe from A Baker’s Odyssey, a cookbook by Greg Patent.
It has [...]
Petit Dejeuner by Linda Pastan
Posted in Poetry, tagged croissant, Linda Pastan, Petit Dejeuner on July 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I sing a song
of the croissant
and of the wily French
who trick themselves daily
back to the world
for its sweet ceremony.
Ah to be reeled
up into morning
on that crisp,
buttery
hook.
