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The Best Thing I Ever Ate Recipes - Yahoo Recipe Search
Food.comI got this recipe from my boss. She made this dish and left it in the fridge for my friend and I while I was dog-sitting for her. It was so good we ate the whole thing within the first four hours that we were there. The ingredients are so versatile. If you don't like garlic stuffed olives omit them. If you don't like spicy, leave out the pepper, and feel free to add whatever sounds good to you!Food.comI was watching ‘The Best Thing I Ever Ate ‘ and Cat Cora (an Iron Chef)described this spicy broccoli. They didn’t give the recipe but they showed some of its preparation. This is my attempt to replicate it. Food52I'm absolutely obsessed with Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. When I found out I could no longer eat gluten, this bakery was the first thing that came to mind--the fact that I couldn't eat their amazing bread and cakes almost brought me to tears. Already having their cookbook, I decided to convert this cake to be gluten free for my birthday. It has an amazing balance of lemony tartness and gooey sweetness that also manages to cover up what can sometimes be grainy gluten-free flours. Also, I get to use my kitchen torch with this recipe. What's not to love?!EpicuriousMy life is all about banging things out, getting things done, moving fast—but sometimes a detour from the fast lane can be a good thing, even for me. Years ago, Gwen and I were on our way home from a road trip to the Canadian Maritimes when we were forced off the highway by some epic construction. We ended up on a wandering road that took us through a charming series of dying industrial towns. There was not much to see... and definitely nothing to eat. But then, in Fall River, Massachusetts, right at the border of Rhode Island, we stumbled across culinary gold: an old gas station converted into a root beer stand. The owner, a retired A&W root beer guy, was behind the counter; all he served was root beer in frosted glasses. Our root beer came with a long lecture about chilling the glass, not the root beer itself (that kills the taste). We sat at a broken-down old picnic table and sipped. I'm all about root beer, and that roadside glassful was the best I ever tasted. This recipe is my stab at bringing that taste to cake—because the only thing better than root beer is root beer plus cake. There's a mad-scientist component to this recipe: when you whisk the baking soda into the molasses and root beer, there's going to be some crazy bubbling up going on, straight out of sci-fi. Don't worry: it's completely normal.Food.comThis wonderful icing is used for icing cakes and cookies as well as for borders and art work on cakes. It makes a delicious filling also between the layers of cakes and under Fondant Icing. You can make roses but it takes 3 or more days to dry them depending on the humidity. There are many versions of “Buttercream” icing. Some are made with eggs and all butter. Some varieties, you have to cook your sugar to a softball stage. Others are 100% shortening or a combination of shortening and butter. Each decorator has his or her favorite. I personally think that the best taste and textured recipe is the one that has you cook your sugar, add to whipped eggs and use pounds of butter per batch. BUT…. I live in a state that can easily be a 100 degrees for days on end during the summer and you know what butter does on hot days. It melts! A greasy puddle of melted icing on a cake plate is not something I want to look at or eat. Your top notch decorators have a few options we don’t. They have huge refrigerators to store their cakes in, and refrigerated vehicles that they can use to deliver decorated cakes. I even know a few that refuse to deliver at all. If you want their cake, you come and get it and it’s your responsibility if it melts. These decorators don’t even turn on their ovens for a wedding cake for less than $2000. The following recipes for Buttercream Icing hold up pretty well in the heat and humidity, but if you know that your cake will be out in very high temperatures, then don’t use any butter and use only a high quality shortening. Shortening: Solid Shortenings definitely have their place in baking. So I’m going to talk taste tests. Crisco is the hands down winner. It has a clean taste with the melting point of 106 degrees. Butter melts somewhere between 88 and 98 degrees F. depending on the amount of fat in the brand. You can see that if you need to serve a pure buttercream decorated cake, on a hot August afternoon, you could have melted roses (and I do mean greasy puddles) on the tablecloth. This is when a good quality shortening will be a great blessing. I have been told by decorator friends that some of the warehouse brand shortenings leave a grainy consistency to the icing no matter what you do. Powdered (Confectioner's) Sugar: Regarding Powdered Sugar. Please use a Cane Sugar. I prefer C&H Powdered (confectioners) Sugar. Many of the cheaper brands use sugar beets for their base. I don’t know the chemistry behind it but you definitely get different textures to your icing that can vary from batch to batch. I spent a few months being very frustrated with the quality of my icing until a kind lady did a bit of trouble shooting for me. She recommended the cane sugar and I’ve been blessing her ever since. Top-Quality Brands: Please be safe, buy a quality brands and then stick with it for the best results. A friend of mine, who is a wonderful cook and baker, travels a lot and she often prepares treats for her hosts. She’s learned to ask the host to have her favorite shortening and flour on hand. She has even made up a little makeup type case that carries her favorite extracts and precious spices. That way she knows what she is working with, how it handles, and what tastes she can expect for the finished product. Some surprises are NOT pleasant. Storing Buttercream Icing: If you are not going to be using the icing right away, place it in a clean, sealable bowl. Store it in the refrigerator but please don’t place it next to the marinating salmon, garlic or broccoli. You do NOT want those flavors in your icing! I like to use my icing within a few days but it will hold in the cold refrigerator for a couple of weeks if necessary. I often make a double batch of icing the night before I have a baking project. That way I know that I have plenty of icing, it’s fresh and I don’t have to make it while I’m in the middle of baking the cakes. The extra can always be used for a batch of cupcakes. When you remove the icing from the refrigerator, you might notice that the icing has taken on a sponge like texture. Do yourself a favor and place the icing in a bowl and mix by hand using a back and forth, smashing motion with a spoon or icing spatula. What you want to do is to smash the bubbles out of the icing. This extra step will help to give you the smoothest icing for a pretty top and sides of the cake. I have found that you will get an even better texture of icing if it is at room temperature before you try to do your icing. Bad Buttercream Icing Days: One thing that seems very silly but is true. There are Bad Buttercream Days! I’ve asked quite a few decorators about this and every one says “Yes, there are lousy days”. I’m not sure what causes the problem. It could be that every human has bad days so they blame the buttercream. It may be the humidity or that there is a low pressure system hanging over your town. I just know why but it is a perceived fact. The way I have handled the problem is that I changed the decoration on the cake. I couldn’t get the smooth top or sides as I originally planned. Writing a greeting on a messy top would look awful so I changed the design idea and put flowers everywhere. I could have also done a basket weave technique around the sides. Just go with the flow, and don’t get frustrated. Aunt Martha won’t chuck the cake at you if you don’t write her name on the top this time. Remember that you are creating something that is to be eaten so have fun with it. Different Mixers: If you have a heavy duty counter mixer, you can prepare a whole batch at one time. If you are using a hand mixer, divide the recipe in half. If you notice the mixer getting hot, please stop and let the machine cool off. I also prefer to mix the buttercream on a low setting. It seems that the higher setting do the job faster but you also will get a spongy texture to the icing. I don’t want that quality in my final ice coating or flowers on the cake. Using Weight Scales: 1 cup of Crisco weighs 6 ounces. I put a piece of wax paper on my scale and start plopping spoons of shortening on until I get the desired weight. It really saves on the cleanup. Recipe from Peggy at WhatsCookingAmerica.netFood52I've been on the quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie ever since I began baking. This is a fairly subjective thing. Some like cakey, some like thin and crispy — but to me, the perfect chocolate chip cookie is chewy, somewhat dense; it has a slight butterscotch flavor; and the chocolate must be dark enough to counterbalance the sweetness of the dough. This recipe has been in development about about three years. Inspired by Alton Brown, Serious Eats, and a handful of other recipes and ideas along the way, this recipe is a keeper. The key to this cookie is not only following the simple techniques, but buying the best ingredients you can find. Your recipes are only as good as your weakest ingredient. -Ryan OchsnerFood.comThis recipe is on page 69 of the Griot's Cookbook (see details on this historic book in my recipe # 97676). It was contributed by the late Doris Waters. "Aunt Doris" (as she became affectionately known by me) was my 3rd and 4th grade teacher at P.S. 141 on the corner of Payson and Pulaski Streets in Baltimore, Maryland. My late mother taught 6th grade on the 3rd floor and my classroom was on the 2nd. Aunt Doris was one of those "aunts" that isn't an aunt, but rather a close family friend. I'm sure you have a few of those. "Miss" or "Mrs" was too formal and in my day you better NOT EVER call an elder by their first name. You'd wake up in China with a ringing in your ears. It was while sitting in Aunt Doris' classroom (Miss Waters during school) one day in November 1963, I first learned President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. I and my classmates had been a rowdy bunch that day, so Miss Waters had turned off the classroom light. That was in instant cue to put our heads on our desks and to sit on our hands. The funny thing was when I peeked up to look at her, her complexion had sallowed; she seemed almost ghost-like. Tears were falling down her face. We were instructed to get our wraps from the cloakroom and to go home quietly. I made my way to the 3rd floor to my mother's classroom. Mother did not cry in public. It just wasn't her way. But while our drive home was usually filled with laughter, this day Ma said nothing whatever. Interesting how food can trigger memories. But just as we are what we eat, we are also a combination of our memories--both happy and somber. Anyway, this is a recipe created by Aunt Doris and it ended up in the published cookbook. One day I'll tell you about the time Aunt Doris and Mom went to Aruba together -- and about the pool boy named Pedro. Enjoy! ·.·´¯'·.··.·´¯'·.·Editor's Commentary: "We were visiting with Doris and she kindly volunteered to let us "try" her chicken and cabbage. Grand main dish. Next day, my husband finished off the cabbage and declared it to be better than the day before." E.M.W.·.·´¯'·.··.·´¯'·.·Food.comToday’s recipe is by my daughter Hanna, age 11. Pierogi are a Polish tradition for Christmas (Wigilia) but we like to eat them year-round. There are different varieties of pierogi. My personal favorites are meat (mięsne) and potato + cheese (ruskie). Some of the other fillings are sauerkraut + mushroom and even fruit (strawberries, blueberries, etc.)! The ones that I love to make (and eat) the most, are the meat ones. It can be fun to shape the meat into little balls or ovals. I remember making pierogi with my mom ever since I was little. I wasn’t good at it at first, but once I started doing it more, I got a lot better at shaping them. I love to take the excess dough and make fun shapes out of it. Sometimes if I was lucky, a piece of dough snuck into my mouth. The dough plays a very important role, obviously! It covers the entire thing and keeps the filling inside! Another important part is the boiling. Even though a simple step, it is a very important one too. Let your water heat up, and when it starts to boil slightly, add salt and about a spoonful of oil. When you think you have made enough pierogi, (see my mom’s recipe below) put them into the water once at a boil. Be sure to stir lightly after putting in, to ensure that they don’t stick together. After they all float to the top, take them out to cool. Once cooled, but still warm, butter up a pan and fry them until golden on both sides. Finally serve. And finally my favorite part, eating the pierogi! Smacznego! HHFood52Ever since I read "Good Things" by Jane Grigson I have wanted to cook all kinds of quince recipes. She wrote the book in quirky chapters, with one for Meat Pies, and of course, one for Apples and Quince. This recipe, adapted from her recipe for Membrilo, is similar to a fruit jelly but easier to make. Her recipes are somewhat elliptical and I have tried to add more detail about how to cook the fruit and get the candy to the right texture. We make it to give as a gift at Christmas time and to eat after the big holiday meals. The cornelian color is beautiful, and because the fruit starts a dull cream, it's like alchemy to see it change as it cooks. I have never seen a flowering quince, but they also sound exotically beautiful. She describes them as "the most beautiful of the blossoms of spring, the quince's soft pink globes, with their falling ruff of silver green leaves" (from Good Things by Jane Grigson). The paste can be flavored with cloves, cinnamon, vanilla and grated lemon or orange rind, but I like it best plain, with any flavoring added after the paste is cooked by using a flavored sugar, like vanilla sugar. Plain is nice, too, if you don't have vanilla. You can also swaddle them in powdered sugar.
