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ladysprite"Williams-Sonoma Breakfast," Brigit L. Binns
I am almost out of Williams-Sonoma cookbooks to use for this project, and it makes me very sad - I've been hoarding the last couple, as rewards for making progress. This was one that I was saving, in particular. It was a gift from my mom, who knows me well and usually gets me one W-S book each year as a holiday gift. I am particularly enamored of breakfast foods in all forms, so I love this one, and it is incredibly sad that I have never used it until now.
It is full of gorgeous, delicious-looking recipes for everything from fried eggs and french toast to polenta with bananas and maple syrup (which I almost made, since it sounds like heaven), but the recipe for Swedish Pancake caught my eye - it looked a lot like a Dutch Apple Pancake, a kind of puffed pancake cooked half on the stove and then baked in the oven, only savory, with ham instead of apples. And since we had some ham left over from making the weird Monte Cristo appetizers, it seemed like the perfect way to use up leftover ingredients.
I am so glad I decided to try this. I've had bad luck making Dutch Apple Pancakes in the past, but this worked perfectly, and the flavors were amazing. I'd make it again in a heartbeat. After I made the polenta.
"Home From the Inn Contented," Roxy Beaujolais
This is another souvenir cookbook, that I bought while I was in London for a week manymany years ago. In fact, I'm fairly certain that all of the souvenirs I got on that trip were books, which probably says something about me. This one, though, promised to be "a cookbook of simple, popular pub food," which sounded fun and interesting and like a good memento of my trip. Also, it cost 99 pence, which was perfect since I had a grad student's budget.
Alas, I brought it home and realized that all of the measurements were in weight and/or metric. Not having a kitchen scale at that time (hey, I was lucky to have a kitchen at all), the book was lovingly read through once and relegated to the bottom corner shelf of Interesting Books That I'll Never Use. Luckily, I have remedied that lack, and was looking forward to using this book.
The temptation to make one of the Dishes Inspired By U.S. Diners was strong, but I decided that, while ironic and amusing, it would be kind of a waste of the book, and wound up looking for something that was more stereotypically English - whether or not it's something that is actually eaten there on anything like a regular basis or not (I'm quite sure that this book is about as accurate as... well, any other reference book that costs less than $2, give or take). So we made Toad In The Hole with Onion Gravy.
Finding English sausages turned out to be the hardest part of this, but Whole Foods eventually came through, and I'm glad they did. The sausages were good, the Yorkshire pudding baked around them was yummy, and the onion gravy turned out to be the best part of the dish. And reading through the book again was entertaining enough to earn it a permanent spot on my shelf.
"Betty Crocker Mexican"
You didn't think I'd make it through an entire entry without at least one glossy checkout lane booklet, did you? This one I bought myself, mostly because Fake Mexican food is tasty, easy, and cheap, and when you're on a grad student budget, those are all very important qualities.
I've used this one at least once, though my plans for making it one of my core cookbooks were mostly foiled by the fact that fake Mexican food is easy enough to make without resorting to cookbooks or recipes. But when I realized it was still on my to-do list, I actually enjoyed looking through it and picking out a handful of recipes that sounded like they'd be worth trying.
Alas, these plans, too, were foiled by the fact that, after my close encounter with Scalprender the Barbecue Tool Of Doom I wound up on antibiotics that seriously messed with my appetite and my ability to eat anything interesting. So instead of tortilla soup or chili or spicy black bean salads, we wound up making nice, safe, semi-bland Roasted Chicken Ranch Wraps. These were about as Mexican as I am, honestly, but given the situation, they were actually pretty good, especially since we wound up making our own guacamole instead of using pre-packaged stuff.
Between surgery in April and antibiotics in November, this project has had a few appetite-killing monkey wrenches thrown into it. I will not let that be an excuse to fail, though....
I am almost out of Williams-Sonoma cookbooks to use for this project, and it makes me very sad - I've been hoarding the last couple, as rewards for making progress. This was one that I was saving, in particular. It was a gift from my mom, who knows me well and usually gets me one W-S book each year as a holiday gift. I am particularly enamored of breakfast foods in all forms, so I love this one, and it is incredibly sad that I have never used it until now.
It is full of gorgeous, delicious-looking recipes for everything from fried eggs and french toast to polenta with bananas and maple syrup (which I almost made, since it sounds like heaven), but the recipe for Swedish Pancake caught my eye - it looked a lot like a Dutch Apple Pancake, a kind of puffed pancake cooked half on the stove and then baked in the oven, only savory, with ham instead of apples. And since we had some ham left over from making the weird Monte Cristo appetizers, it seemed like the perfect way to use up leftover ingredients.
I am so glad I decided to try this. I've had bad luck making Dutch Apple Pancakes in the past, but this worked perfectly, and the flavors were amazing. I'd make it again in a heartbeat. After I made the polenta.
"Home From the Inn Contented," Roxy Beaujolais
This is another souvenir cookbook, that I bought while I was in London for a week manymany years ago. In fact, I'm fairly certain that all of the souvenirs I got on that trip were books, which probably says something about me. This one, though, promised to be "a cookbook of simple, popular pub food," which sounded fun and interesting and like a good memento of my trip. Also, it cost 99 pence, which was perfect since I had a grad student's budget.
Alas, I brought it home and realized that all of the measurements were in weight and/or metric. Not having a kitchen scale at that time (hey, I was lucky to have a kitchen at all), the book was lovingly read through once and relegated to the bottom corner shelf of Interesting Books That I'll Never Use. Luckily, I have remedied that lack, and was looking forward to using this book.
The temptation to make one of the Dishes Inspired By U.S. Diners was strong, but I decided that, while ironic and amusing, it would be kind of a waste of the book, and wound up looking for something that was more stereotypically English - whether or not it's something that is actually eaten there on anything like a regular basis or not (I'm quite sure that this book is about as accurate as... well, any other reference book that costs less than $2, give or take). So we made Toad In The Hole with Onion Gravy.
Finding English sausages turned out to be the hardest part of this, but Whole Foods eventually came through, and I'm glad they did. The sausages were good, the Yorkshire pudding baked around them was yummy, and the onion gravy turned out to be the best part of the dish. And reading through the book again was entertaining enough to earn it a permanent spot on my shelf.
"Betty Crocker Mexican"
You didn't think I'd make it through an entire entry without at least one glossy checkout lane booklet, did you? This one I bought myself, mostly because Fake Mexican food is tasty, easy, and cheap, and when you're on a grad student budget, those are all very important qualities.
I've used this one at least once, though my plans for making it one of my core cookbooks were mostly foiled by the fact that fake Mexican food is easy enough to make without resorting to cookbooks or recipes. But when I realized it was still on my to-do list, I actually enjoyed looking through it and picking out a handful of recipes that sounded like they'd be worth trying.
Alas, these plans, too, were foiled by the fact that, after my close encounter with Scalprender the Barbecue Tool Of Doom I wound up on antibiotics that seriously messed with my appetite and my ability to eat anything interesting. So instead of tortilla soup or chili or spicy black bean salads, we wound up making nice, safe, semi-bland Roasted Chicken Ranch Wraps. These were about as Mexican as I am, honestly, but given the situation, they were actually pretty good, especially since we wound up making our own guacamole instead of using pre-packaged stuff.
Between surgery in April and antibiotics in November, this project has had a few appetite-killing monkey wrenches thrown into it. I will not let that be an excuse to fail, though....
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Date: 2009-11-29 12:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-29 01:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-29 04:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-29 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-29 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-29 09:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-29 12:46 am (UTC)I've enjoyed reading your posts on these.
PJW
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Date: 2009-11-29 12:46 am (UTC)English sausages... They range from the cheapest economy version using MRM, to the finest gourmet super-premiums bangers, which deserve to be placed on the world stage as a great national speciality. For years, they were a hugely derided item, but now have recovered their rightful place.
An unqualified "sausage" to me would be a mid quality pork (or pork and rusk), with simple seasoning, not particularly flavoured.
The other classic way is "Bangers and mash" - mashed potato - and of course more onion gravy.
Since you've found English sausage, here's a favourite family recipe for you - http://fractalgeek.livejournal.com/129506.html (http://fractalgeek.livejournal.com/129506.html)
no subject
Date: 2009-11-29 01:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-29 01:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-29 02:25 am (UTC)You're someone who will enjoy this link. It's a digital library collection (Michigan State) of American historical cookbooks. Most of the famous ones are here. And no need to take up shelf space.
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Date: 2009-11-29 06:46 am (UTC)Thanks for the link!
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Date: 2009-11-29 03:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-09 03:56 am (UTC)