Cooking the Alphabet

Longer ago than I care to admit, a dear friend asked me about making pie crust. And since today is that person’s birthday, I figured evidence that I hadn’t forgotten that request might make a suitable birthday gift.

When done well, pie crust is a deep brown, delectable testament to the near-miraculous effect of heat on a few simple ingredients. Tender and flaky, it serves as a perfect embrace for fresh fruits, pudding, or whatever tasty filling a cook can devise. Pie crust can also be intimidating as hell to make, because the quality of those simple ingredients really matters. So does the cook’s handling of them. I am by no means an expert pie baker, but I am adequate and if I had regular practice, I’m confident I could become an expert one. So could you; and here are my tips and an excellent recipe for starting down that path. Let’s head into the kitchen!

A while back I read an enthusiastic endorsement of a new cheesecake cookbook on a foodie site; being a cheesecake lover, I clicked through to Amazon to check it out. The cookbook is apparently based on a successful restaurant’s New York-style cheesecake recipes. But a few things in an editorial review turned me off of the book, and of their cheesecakes. My primary objection is the use of corn starch in the cheesecake. Now, I know that restaurants need to be as concerned with food appearance as much as taste, but as something of a cheesecake snob, I do not like extra binders in my cheesecake. The cheese and eggs should be sufficient—no flour, gelatin, or corn starch should be necessary to get a smooth cheesecake. They can add off flavors and textures to the cake. I’ve never had a problem with cracks in my cheesecakes, and I’ve never gone to the lengths described to accomplish a picture-perfect cheesecake—I don’t use extra binders, I don’t use a water bath, and I bake the cheesecakes at typical (325–350° F) temperatures.

All that said, making a pretty and delectable cheesecake is one of the trickier propositions I’ve encountered. Still, all that’s required is some extra care in preparing the batter and baking the cake. For starters, one must plan ahead: cheesecakes taste best after mellowing about 24 hours after they’re baked. Follow me into the kitchen if you’re interested in the secrets of homemade cheesecake success.

My guess is pretty much any decent cook can take a chicken carcass or some beef bones and make a decent stock from it. I regularly save roasted chicken remains and freeze them until I have enough to make a big batch of chicken stock. It’s thrifty, easy, and much tastier and more healthful than bouillon cubes and powders and the like (although I will admit to using a couple of Penzeys soup bases in a pinch). But what about vegetable stock? Turns out it is every bit as easy to make—and for the investment of ingredients and time, it’s an even better payoff than homemade meat stocks. Best of all, homemade stock won’t have unknown quantities of mystery or undesirable ingredients like modified food starch or MSG. This stuff is liquid gold when it comes to adding a nice flavor boost to rice, polenta, and pasta sauces. And of course, it makes a splendid base for building other sauces, or gravies, soups, and stews.

The first I am surprised I didn’t create from the outset, when we began our arduous migration to Drupal [the buffalo got nothing on the difficulties we faced!]: tips and tricks. Any kind of helpful hint, product or software recommendation, etc., that we post should go in this category; and I expect that an accompanying category tag will help further classify them (e.g., pood, Pengy Power), although I am not going to be the tagging police and insist upon it.

The second is a bit of inspiration that came to me yesterday, to help me be more consistent about sharing fun things I discover as I cook. “Cooking the alphabet” is intended to be a semi-regular feature, focusing upon some food or spice—one for each letter of the alphabet. Some will be commonplace, while others will be unusual. I’ll try to include at least one recipe with each letter, but won’t guarantee it. And I will probably break my loose rule of focusing on ingredients rather than final dishes at some point, but I doubt anyone here will care all that much about that. I have the first entry in mind already, but need to get this issue of Sunni’s Salon finished before I can indulge myself.

If any Conspirators want to do their own cook the alphabet series as well, I think that would be marvelous. Or you dear readers can run with the idea yourselves, too. It ain’t as though I’m going to copyright the idea.

Update: How could I have forgotten to mention “Wisdom and Inspiration”? Well, I did; sorry. As the name suggests, that category is intended to mostly be a repository of quotes and other bits of wisdom or insight. Certainly not only from “famous” people, either!