Saturday, June 15, 2013

I'm talking about the little boy goats, OBVIOUSLY


I have some new carrot soup recipes to try. Thank you!

But I won't be making carrot soup or anything else this weekend because the refrigerator quit on Thursday. Freezer too, which was a big old mess. This morning it was actually warm inside the fridge, making it the ideal place for rising bread. Smells terrible. Almost everything had to go except mustard, jam, and yeast. It was hard to part with that prosciutto, let me tell you. No repairman until Monday.

Looking on the bright side: clean refrigerator, clean slate, new leaf, will have to eat out some this weekend.

The other day I made "s"-shaped butter cookies out of The Cooking of Germany. They contain sugar, butter, flour, and only the yolks of eggs. They're very rich and dense and we like them. Each cookie is filling, like a meal, like a cookie you'd take on a backpacking trip through the Black Forest. My only quarrel with the recipe is the addition of lemon zest. Even a little lemon turns a butter cookie into a lemon cookie and that interferes with something deep and mellow and boundless about the flavor of butter. It's not that I don't like lemon, but sometimes I want to hear what quieter flavors have to say.

The addition of lemon was one of my two complaints about Nanci McDermott's rhubarb pie recipe from Southern Pies. I made it a few weeks ago and it was almost perfect, but there was this hit of lemon that kept getting in the way of the rhubarb. Also, there wasn't enough fruit for me; the pie seemed flat and underfilled. So I made it again adding more than twice as much fruit, doubling the sugar and thickener (flour,) but omitting the lemon. This time it was perfect in all ways except:

Can you see how soupy? You need a spoon to eat it. Layne suggested pre-cooking the filling so that's what I'll try next. I have to keep on with it, because I wrote "perfect rhubarb pie" down on my list.

About the list. Everyone has their own way of keeping track of life and mine is a crazy list that I retype every year and add to constantly with hand-written notes. I've kept it going for at least 15 years. It is many pages now, full of books I want to read, movies someone recommended, donut shops I "need" to visit, people to call, projects to finish, medical tests to schedule, chores involving the goats (see below), clothing items to mend. It sounds unwieldy, but works for me. I flip through it every day and every time I get to this page I stop for a split second.

By coincidence, we are about to go as a family to Doughnut Dolly and Donut Savant as there's nothing to eat in the house and no milk for coffee and it just feels like the morning.

24 comments:

  1. So sorry to hear about your fridge. Good thing that pie won't go off.

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  2. With help from Chowhound.com, I've gotten better at pie, I keep practicing .. I have a folder just of pie crusts, prefer an all butter one. One great tip I got was to use instant tapioca in the filling instead of flour or cornstarch. It said to whiz it in a clean spice grinder first, about 2 Tablespoons for 4 cups of berries, then mix in and let it rest about 15 minutes.

    I read "Nothing to Envy" .. have you read "Escape from Camp 14"? Those books really open your eyes and they make me feel very grateful for simple pleasures.

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  3. Hahahahaha. Yeah, that's a full stop all right.

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  4. On the other hand, rhubarb pie with Meyer lemon zest is just spectacular. I highly recommend it.

    And speaking of donuts, have you heard about cronuts?

    http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jHqpgAO7AkbGVp1eie4aa-HUIQEg?docId=CNG.0d18918b6b42e3fb0422d284a2446af1.3f1

    I have a friend who really, really wants one but neither of us wants to get up at dark o'clock for pastry, so, taking a leaf from your book, I promised to make him some. This will unfortunately entail homemade croissant dough.

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    1. Frozen croissants dough! Yes, these are on my list.

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  5. Hmmm, I keep a lot of scribbled lists too, but I've never had occasion to remind myself to castrate anyone. When it's time for the dog to be fixed, I use 'neuter.' It seems more, well, neutral, and less, I don't know, aggressive? :) I have made cookies like those before, sans the lemon. I too prefer my butter cookies plain, sometimes with vanilla extract. I should make some of those to take hiking, thanks for giving me the idea!!

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    1. I know, castrate sounds brutal. We had a device to "emasculate" them, but that sounded too much like what one unwisely does to a husband. Plus, it didn't work. Neuter is probably the better word as I don't think they are technically castrated.

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  6. Love Rhubarb..and Strawberry Rhubarb pie. I find using a combination of thickener with tapioca and cornstarch works well.. but the secret to mine is to let the pie cool completely, unrefrigerated. it seems to set up that way and then warming the pieces for those that prefer warm pie. Looking forward to that "perfect recipe" when you have it down.

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    1. My husband cut it when it was still warm. I think that was a big mistake.

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  7. I make rhubarb-raspberry compote by throwing a handful of frozen raspberries in with the rhubarb, it transforms it. Or rhubarb-cassis compote by adding a little crime de cassis.

    Nothing to Envy was a great read.

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  8. I, too, find cornstarch and tapioca to be superior to flour as pie thickeners. It does help to mix up the filling then allow it to sit for 10-15 minutes before you fill the pie for baking. I always use a lot more cornstarch than the recipe states. It may gel the filling too much for your taste, but the pie is never runny. Cooking a rhubarb pie is like cooking a celery pie, lots of water in there!
    I keep a perpetual list of books, music, movies, recipes, things to do, etc., but my list is not that organized. It is on little pieces of paper that end up everywhere. Perhaps I should try your method, but there won't be any gonad references on mine.

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  9. Ooh, I also combine rhubarb and raspberry, and I always pre-cook the filling in a pot. I also use cornstarch. I used to make a really cute dessert that used miniature current scones as the cobbler topping, and raspberry-rhubarb fruit filling, served with clotted cream on the side. I was going for English.

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  10. Refrigerator story: it died,called refrigerator guy,he zooms over in his VW. Turns out to be the circuit breaker.. circuit breaker guy arrives and wants to replace the entire thingy..$$$
    My friend tightens a screw and everything is up and running until we sold the house.
    I love soupy rhubarb pie because I can't wait until it cools either.

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  11. I'm an obsessive list-maker too and I LOVE your binder-list idea. I think I may steal it.

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  12. I have a list like this too. Though it's not one piece of paper but many and it grows and then things drop off. I go with the flow. On another topic. I've been using a Sacher torte recipe from the Commissary Cookbook(by Steve Posen and Becky?) that I've had since the 1980s.I found my 2nd copy at Falling Water's gift shop. The 1st copy torn and tattered having been left on my ex-Dutch boyfriends kitchen shelf. Phew that I found the 2nd! Jennifer- find this book! It's been my go too for numerous things. Too many to describe hear. Over 25 nearly 30 years of using it for great pecan pie, a supberb carrot cake (though skip the coconut), fish, bread, - it's really great. And I belive it's probably one of the first cookbooks to provide anticdotal info on the side - which I still find useful and right on.

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    1. I have this cookbook! According to my notes, I made the pecan pie on 11/11 and it was "great." What I most remember, though, are the green beans with hazelnut crumbs and the mocha buttercrunch pie (I made the mocha pie because of a Slate story about how fabulous it was -- and it was.)

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  13. Ha! Now I know you really do exist. I love your blog. I've been reading it for years. I read it at work when I should not. It's tabbled on google chrome. I know I would enjoy a drink with you. I havent tried those 3 recipes though- as much as pie is my favorite dessert. Keep up the great storytelling and cooking. We are out there reading you!!

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  14. I just wanted to note that I think it's kinda ironic to be a 'list' person, but then have such a messy list! Although, as a list person myself, I think it might be freeing in a way. You can be scattered and organized at the same time. Just thinking out loud here. I may have to try an all-in-one list and see if I like it.

    I have made many a rhubarb pie that looks just like that. It's not possible to wait until they're completely cool. Just think of it as sauce for your ice cream. :-)

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  15. You might want to try the rhubarb lattice pie or cherry-rhubarb pie recipes from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Pie and Pastry Bible. In my experience, they're both delicious and utterly foolproof as long as you follow her directions.

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  16. I think the perfect rhubarb pie recipe is in Betty Crocker's New Picture Cookbook - just flour, sugar, rhubarb, and a little butter. I have the 1961 edition. The filling ingredients need to sit together, stirred occasionally, until the flour is no longer dry, before you put it into a pie shell. Personally I like a shallow rhubarb pie because I like a high pastry to filling ratio, so I use a shallow pie pan. But there you go, each to his own taste. I have a friend that swears her mother's rhubarb custard pie is perfection. Precooking the rhubarb, however, seems like a bad idea; it would only turn the rhubarb to mush.

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  17. I love your pie plate so much! I had the same one and was so sad when mine broke!

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