Cooking
What Are Those Green Specks in My Biscuits?
Several weeks ago I baked a batch of buttermilk biscuits with sunflower seeds in them, using a recipe from a cookbook I've had since college, Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin. They were delicious fresh out of the oven, but when I broke one open the next day I noticed what appeared to be vivid ...
December 16, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
What is this Junket, Anyway?
As I wrote yesterday, I'm having fun flipping through a century-old cookbook that once belonged to my great-grandma. Most of the recipes are somewhat familiar, but there was one title in the desserts section that stopped me cold: "Junket Pudding."Since the only kind of junket I'm aware of is a "pre...
December 15, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Cooking With My Great-Grandmother
I never knew my maternal great-grandmother, Grace. She lived in Wichita, Kansas, and died long before I was born. But I was recently given the opportunity to cook with her, in a way.Earlier this year, one of my mother's wedding presents to me was a small, age-mottled hardcover book called "A Little...
December 14, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
25 Holiday Gift Ideas For Foodies, Cooks and Sustainable Eaters
Brain Food
1. A food-themed film, such as the serious documentaries “Food Inc.” or "The Future of Food," or the more light-hearted "Julie & Julia" or "Ratatouille," packaged with some gourmet popcorn.2. Subscription to a food magazine. Bon Appetit is a good entry point for cooks just beginning ...
December 04, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Five Ways to Eat Rutabaga
The first time I tasted rutabaga—or so I thought—was when I started spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with my fiancé's family. Bowls of mashed rutabaga, seasoned with salt and pepper and a little butter, are a staple of their holiday table, although some of the cousins turn their noses up at it. ...
December 03, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Learning to Love Olive Oil
Olive oil has never been a particular passion for me, although I cook with it almost daily. Its main appeal is utility—creating texture and moisture; browning without sticking—more than taste. But after attending a recent Smithsonian Resident Associates event about Italian foods, I won't be taking ...
November 30, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Taking Sides: A Vegetarian Thanksgiving
The New York Times food section recently featured a fun face-off between writers Kim Severson and Julia Moskin over what you might call a silly question: What's more important on a Thanksgiving table, the turkey or the side dishes? Moskin wrote an article titled "Show-Off Sides to Rival the Pull of...
November 23, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Five Ways to Eat Beets
I ordered a salad with roasted beets when I was out with my parents recently. They looked at the hunks of purple of my plate and wrinkled their noses. The "I remember when…" statements weren’t far behind. They recalled stinky, pickled beets from a can, which is something they never subjected me to ...
November 11, 2009 |
By Abby Callard
Cinnamon as Health Food
The chatty coffee-shop employee's comment confused me. I had paused at the condiment station to add a sprinkle of cinnamon* to my cappuccino, and he was wiping down the counter in front of me."Ah, yes, for your eyes?" he asked, gesturing at the cinnamon shaker."My...eyes?" I fumbled in response. "N...
November 09, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Baking Apples in a Schnitzer
While visiting an Irish friend in the Kilkenny countryside a few years back, I admired her mother's charming wood cookstove. It was nearly the size of a twin bed, was always kept burning, and produced daily loaves of delicious brown bread and amazing apple pies. But, until I moved to New York from ...
November 06, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Five Ways to Eat Brussels Sprouts
Yes, I said "eat" and "Brussels sprouts." Oh, stop making that face...Properly prepared, these tiny brassica plants can be a real treat—and they're nutritionally noble (low-cal and fat-free, yet just a handful will provide all the vitamin C you need for the day, plus several grams of protein and fi...
November 05, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Making Homemade Yogurt and Cheese
I learned something potentially dangerous this weekend: cheese, especially fresh (not aged) cheese, is surprisingly quick and easy to make.A group of people in my area who are concerned about the environment has been hosting a series of "lost arts" workshops on topics like making sauerkraut and bak...
November 04, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Eat Your Carrot Greens
Last weekend, I picked up some beautiful carrots—the kind that Bugs Bunny would drool over; classic orange cones topped with plumes of greenery—at an organic farmstand. From childhood experience, I already knew that the sweet crunch of garden-grown carrots tastes far better than those mass-produced...
November 03, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Five Ways to Eat Winter Squash
There are hundreds of ways to eat winter squash, but these are five of my favorites. Tell me yours...1) Baked maple squash. This is best with smaller varieties like acorn or delicata. Cut in half, scoop out the seeds and pulp from both halves, and place cut-side up in a baking dish with just enough...
October 22, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Save on Your Sandwich
Math hurts sometimes. Yesterday, I came across a "sandwich calculator" that revealed a painful truth: I could be saving hundreds of dollars a year if I brought homemade sandwiches for lunch, instead of eating out at delis and cafes.A blogger at Cockeyed.com did the per-sandwich math for various ing...
October 06, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Kitchen Performance Anxiety
I think I'm suffering from hostophobia, or fear of being an incompetent host (I know, it's not really a word, but maybe it'll make it onto the Schott's Vocabulary blog). My fiancé and I are throwing a housewarming party in a couple of days, and it will be the first time we have been responsible for...
October 02, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Baking a Punctual Cake
Today marks the 6th observance of National Punctuation Day.What does that have to do with food? Well, let me tell you. For the past five years This year, people have celebrated are celebrating the holiday with a baking contest. The challenge: bake in the shape of punctuation. So, in the spirit of t...
September 24, 2009 |
By admin
Five Ways to Eat Apples
Honeycrisp, Gala, Macoun, Gingergold, Cortland, Macintosh... our fridge was full of apples after a recent trip to visit friends on the north shore of Massachusetts. We went to one of my favorite old haunts there, Russell Orchards in Ipswich, where the smell of fresh cider donuts is even stronger th...
September 22, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Making Cooking Safer in the Developing World
A cooking stove called the Chulha just won an INDEX award for "design to improve life." Why? Because according to the World Health Organization, about half of all households worldwide—and 90 percent of rural households—get their cooking and heating fuel from "biomass" sources like coal, wood, charc...
September 21, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Cooking With Middle Eastern Spices
A local friend of mine recently received a bounty of fresh Middle Eastern spices, courtesy of a friend visiting from Qatar."I asked her to bring me a few spices, and she went to the market and asked for a half a kilo of everything!" my friend explained. "Want some?"What a happy coincidence—we had ...
September 15, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
