Miscellaneous Cooking

The most caramely, easy, decadent, crunchy, sweet munch ever - wonderful, old-fashioned homemade caramel popcorn. I use a unique electric popper for this such as the Toastess Cinema Corn Popper or the regular Toastess Air Popcorn maker (Amazon has it, Canadian Tire is the place for Canadians or check  http://www.toastess.com/products/product_categories/view/corn-poppers- It's easy to find and well priced). What I like about either unit is that they actually pop fluffy popcorn quickly and with little or no fat. A rotating blade in the Toastess Cinema Corn Popper ensures corn heats evenly and pops perfectly. I tested several other units and out came unpopped kernels faster than I could clean them up.  Homemade caramel popcorn also makes a great gift. And for peanut allergy folks - there's nothing to worry about if you make your own batch (store-bought caramel popcorn often has peanut allergy warnings).
 

This wonderful recipe is in the upcoming The Baker's Four Seasons Cookbook. It is similar to a Quebecoise Pouding Au Chomeur of a brown sugar/flour batter gets spooned into a pan, doused with boiling water and the magic of the oven helps transform it into a golden brown cake atop a luscious sticky syrup bottom. This is perfect on its own, or with ice cream, or custard. Little prep, few ingredients (all pantry ready), and little expertise made pudding cakes such as these were once a popular, simple dessert.

Not only does this roast beef taste out of this world, it needs one long, slow bake.
No bake, chill, and re-slice. Who has time?  I realized one day after years of trying to manage the baking (bread and desserts still enthuse me more than even the world's best brisket) that a long slow roasted brisket doesn't require slicing and a second baking (is it me or is brisket like making biscotti?). A second cut brisket is best for this recipe but first cut brisket is fine. This makes a deeply flavorful brisket that has all the rights notes of wine, garlic and onions, slowly braised to perfection.

This is a great company dish for brunch. You can prepare it the night before and reheat. But either way, it is great big buttery slabs of fresh toast, stuffed to the gills with a cheesecake filling and covered in a mellow, apple topping. Outstanding.

Chicago, Chicago …you make great chicken dishes. This one is easy and also legend.

Double or up the recipe as you need.  This is wonderful for Passover, Easter, brunches or wedding day luncheons. A Fiestaware egg dish is perfect for this.

A version of this appears almost everywhere and the one I originally saw was in The Way to Cook, by our beloved reine de cuisine, Julia Child. Julia originally called for zabaglione sauce and a last minute flaming of brandy or rum. I prefer a traditional hard sauce. You can make the pudding a week ahead and re-steam or microwave before serving. I offer it in small portions in miniature glass crème caramel molds or crystal stemware. The French gave us Buche Noel, but we can thank the Brits for steamed puddings. This can be made a week ahead and needs 1-2 hours steaming before serving or microwave before serving. A tin pudding mold can be found in kitchen shops or you can get an old-fashioned pudding mold at Golda's Kitchen in tin http://www.goldaskitchen.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=4662&step=4 (but Golda's has other choices as well). You can also use a 3-4 quart ceramic bowl. I had my first steamed pudding at a Chanukah party, years ago, hosted by my mom’s (still) best friend, Evelyn Ortenberg. It was the finale to a brisket and latkes meal! Since then, I have made it myself but it is also, in another guise, the famed steamed fruit pudding at Canada’s now-all-but-gone, Murray’s Restaurant chain. You can add dried cranberries or blueberries to this but frankly, I prefer it as old-fashioned as is and has been for centuries.

The classic sticky, gooey, delicious brown sugar pudding. A crusty top is broken into with an eager spoon...to get at all the goo inside. Serve with spoonfuls of delicious sticky toffee sauce.