Your Pie Your Way

Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away followed by one of the busiest baking seasons of the year. One standard , pie is expected at Thanksgiving with maybe one or two gracing a holiday party buffet..Most home bakers panic at baking one. It's sometimes isn't an easy sweet to make.Not to worry.Pick a pie that suits your expertise and run with it.

Beginner bakers - or those who don't have the time  to go through the whole ordeal of making and rolling out dough can use a pre made pie shell. Keebler and Nabisco both have their own, Keebler has a graham cracker crust one while Nabisco offers an Oreo crumb crust. Both can be used in making simple as  - well - pie  cream pies, using instant pudding as  filling. A vanilla pudding pie , topped with a simple whipped cream is a nice refreshing dessert.Another idea is a butterscotch pie , made with instant pudding is simple  enough for even a tween to make. Jello now has a pumpkin spice pudding that can easily be made into a pie..The Oreo crust almost begs for a wild filling. Try it filled with Hershey's brand dark chocolate or milk chocolate pudding. You can add a few drops of mint flavoring to the dark chocolate for a take on grasshopper pie.A more elegant dessert is a white chocolate pie, topped with either raspberries or cherries. These pudding pies are a snap to make.It's just preparing the pudding with less milk than needed and then poured into the shell. Setting time is only two or three hours . You could even whip up a few for a big holiday get together  or Sunday football party.

Crust pies are a little more labor intensive. If you're still unsure about your baking skills then buy ready  made pie dough. More or less it tastes like the homemade kind.If you do decide to make your own keep a few things in mind. Lard makes for the best rust, giving it a light and flaky texture.This is the crust you use for fruit pies,because the layers absorb the fruits' liquids without becoming soggy.. Cream or custard pies need a crust that has a mealy or granulated  texture.Use butter for this.,Remember that whatever fats used, they have to be  to be super cold for it to blend well with the flour. Most home bakers want to make apple or pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. Both have relatively complicated fillings. With the first it's all about what type of apples makes the best filling.Look for the Northern spy, the Esopus Spitzenberg or the Pink Lady. Don't go apple hunting  in your local grocery These apples can be found on farms or farmer's markets.  As for pumpkin pie. if you're truly adventurous , you can make it from your Halloween pumpkin . Intermediate bakers should stick with the canned. It makes for a creamier filling with a  firmer texture. You can also moderate the spices put in, adding more nutmeg or cinnamon as you see fit.

It's pie season.Luckily you don't have to stress about it. Make a pie that suits your expertise.it'll result in an excellently made dessert that everyone will rave over.

Puffed With Yummy Goodness

If you want fun eating then make any kind of popover. These are a quick bake and taste delicious with anything sweet or savory. Best of all even the most novice of home chefs can whip them up without any trouble. Making a batch is as easy as gobbling them down.

Popovers are the American cousins to Yorkshire pudding. it was settlers from Maine who brought it over and changed the recipe somewhat.A bit of garlic was added to the batter  along with herbs and, of course the drippings from the roast beef. These were also made with pork drippings, a slight variation from the Yorkshire recipe. The modern popover has a buttery taste thanks to just the basic recipe.it's just eggs , flour milk and salt. If you are making a roast beef, then by all means use the dripping to flavor the puffs - although to be honest the first thing everyone will do is ladle copious amounts of gravy over them. Their parent , Yorkshire pudding is another easy bake and so delicious with a good roast.The recipe began in the 1730's when wheat flour became more widely available . Cooks began to use drippings from beef and mutton for extra taste and moisture. These were called dripping puddings and were in English cuisine for centuries before. This variation was taken from a recipe originating in Burgundy France. Yorkshire pudding has more eggs than popovers along with a tablespoon or two of meat drippings for ruchness


Popovers came come in bigger ,single servings. Melissa Clark wrote about one, a Dutch baby or Dutch  puff in her A Good Appetite column in last Wednesday's New York Times Food section. The dish is usually meant to be a sweet one, served with lemon and powdered sugar as a breakfast dish. She takes it to another level by creating a savory one thanks to the addition of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (you could use Gruyere) along with fresh thyme.. Twisting the recipe this way makes it somewhat similar to the French gougere, the savory cheese puff made with cheese. These are a little more complicated to whip up , thanks to the complexities of the batter. If you're a novice home chef then the Dutch baby is for you.The simple puff pancake was  derived from the German pfannkuchen, and were renamed by one of the owners at Manca's Café in Portland Oregon in 1942. Another name is David Eyre pancake named after the famed New York Times food writer. It' a baked pancake that  included for color and better texture too.You can also make a plain one, simply laced with nutmeg or cinnamon. it has to be eaten straight from the oven , usually with maple syrup or powdered sugar and lemon.

If you want fun make popovers for a nice treat at breakfast, dinner or dessert. If you're selfish, then make a puffy , airy Dutch baby. Any kind is  just a golden cloud of deliciousness.

The Big Acme Takeover

If you're living in the New York City metro area you may have noticed two things.One there are no more A&Ps and two, they've been replaced by Acmes. For those who loved the Great Atlantic and Pacific tea Company, this is devastating . Generations of New Yorkers and New Jerseyians, especially have shopped at the A&P. Now what? Will those loyal shoppers be disappointed with the change? Can the A& P come back?
The answer to the last question is no. The company went bankrupt and 100 stores up and down the Atlantic Seaboard closed overnight. Maryland workers were especially hard hit with 1,500 workers axed.There were problems with unions and wage freezes. In the end no one won. Most of the Northern and Central New Jersey ones shut down, without any notice . Fans will miss the high quality meats along with the variety of national and local products. The store was famous for their delicious roasters  with sides  along with their barbecue basted be ef ribs and fried chicken. Sadly though , my local one was not good at hiring, and they often employed the dregs of society.Shoppers were met with laziness and sarcasm which was a turn off. I headed over to Stop & Shop for not only a wide variety of foods and freshly cooked meals but for the warm, caring attitudes of their workers.I avoided the A&P at all costs, driving the extra mile to get better customer care.

Luckily Acme came in and with better pricing and better customer care. The store itself goes back to 1891 to two good friends, Samuel Robinson and Robert Crawford  deciding to start a local grocery in south Philadelphia.It's now owned by AB Acquisitions LLC however it has kept that homey neighborhood feel. I like my town's Acme. There prices are so good, shoppers' don't need  to whip out those annoying club cards  to get  discounts. The store has plenty of buy one, get one free specials and they have all the national brands.Unfortunately, they have few generic products. These are mostly household and baby goods such as dryer sheets and shampoo. Their baked goods are better than any bakery's, especially their baguettes and cookies..Acme's roast chicken was excellent, moist meat under a flavorful skin. I also liked their steakhouse potato salad, with its 'shreds of cheddar and steak bits.Best of all I like their workers' attitudes. No snottiness. No sarcasm. Just patient cashiers who are willing to go the extra mile , especially for one shopper who left her wallet at home (my bad).

There is always some sadness when a beloved store closes. There are memories of getting ready for big birthday and holiday feasts, of planning barbecues and tail gate parties. Yet  a new store comes with the gift  of making new memories and trying delicious foods. Long live Acme!

A Religious Whey

Truly good goat cheese is usually a European product. Mostly the French have mastered it, creating a silken textured fromage that just melts on the tongue. However there is competition coming from America's heartland, A  simply made cheese is winning prizes and palates.It comes from a devout Mennonite couple who may live sparsely but produce luxurious wedges.

Regular contributor, Kim Severson wrote about Veronica and Steve Baetje in yesterday's New York Times Food section yesterday. Mrs Baetje is a bit unusual in these cynical and questioning times, she had made a pact with God.If He could make her business successful, she would talk about Him as much as she could, even putting Bible quotes on their labels..It paid off. Their chevre or goat cheese has beat out 2,600 competitors to earn a top ranking at the World Cheese Awards. However it could also be a gentle and strident way of handling the curds and whey too,.Goat's milk  is more delicate than cow's milk, and it's' filled with tiny fragile fat globules. slosh it around for too long and the protein breaks down, Get rough with it and the curds are ruined and won't hold the cheese's most crucial ingredient moisture..Mrs. Baetje knows this and handles it with the utmost care.Yes there is Divine Intervention, but there's also inborn talent  at work  here too.

The extra care has paid off.Their cheese is becoming more and more popular. Much of it gets sold at farmers markets and by chef's around the Saint Louis vicinity.It can also be had at local whole Foods along with some Manhattan cheese shops.If you aren't near any of those, the Baetjes do have a website that sells their many flavors. Mrs. Baetje sells about 750 (!) pounds a week. The cheeses does have appeal. She lovingly hand shapes them into hearts and flavored with herbs along with the surprise  one of pumpkin. There are also other variations such as Amoureux, a nutty aged cheese with a vein of ash. She tinkers constantly with the cheeses. There is also a Couer de la crème with cranberry and orange, perfect for a holiday brunch. Get their three pepper one for a party cheese board for something different. A great gift to any foodie is their marinated feta which is soaked with good Greek olive oil , herbs and decorated with a sun dried tomato.Cheese affectionados   would love receiving their Miette, a sweet creamy cheese perfect for those holiday loaves.

Veronica and Steve Baetje believe that God has given success in their cheese business. Yet, their talent is also responsible for making excellent fromage de chevres. They are heavenly cheeses made with an earth bound love and determination.

The New And Improved Apple

Can the most basic of all fruits - the apple - be improved upon? Is it possible to have an even crisper , crunchier bite and more juice. The answer is yes, Like the Apple computer products , there is going to be a new and better generation of America's favorite snack. The fruit world is about to be rocked by apple 3.0.

New apple breeds were the main article in today's New York Times Food section. David Kapp wrote about the new breeds that are going to shake up the American palate Scientists in Washington State, are doing wonders with hybridization (and take note, not genetically modified). The newest is the Honeycrisp, created at the University of Minnesota in 1991 and is the gold standard for three of the most important traits:crispness, juiciness and upscale pricing. Ironically it all short with the first characteristic, being very soft and dissolving quickly in the mouth .It also has an inconsistent flavor and fades during a long storage>It is also very difficult to grow, making it a hindrance to apple growers.Its scion , the Cosmic Crisp, which is also bred with the enterprise breed of apple is firmer but not impossible to bite into. It's also much easier to manage and pack up for transportation.Its' firmness os a selling point because it helps it  keep longer . This makes it perfect for selling during any time of year from fall to the spring.Acidity is another vital quality.Kinds such as Red Delicious, Gala and Fuji have low acidity  and drops when stored. This leaves for a flat taste, not a good selling point A highly acidic apple  tastes as good three months after it's been picked from the tree.

How are these super apples made? Analysis of what works and then the painstaking process of traditional pollination between different sorts of apple trees. There is then a five year wait before the hybrid bears fruit. Unlike other produce that have been genetically modified , old breeds are analyzed  through recently developed DNA tests to select genes connected to  crisp texture, acidity and fructose. This helps weed out unpromising seedlings as well as choosing parents with the best traits. Many breeders around the world ( surprisingly Switzerland ,Belgium and the Czech Republic are also big apple producers) have been trying to develop the perfect apple, one with sweet red flesh, pigmented like the skin outside and rich with antioxidants.An apple with a ruby flesh would be different and appeal to foodies dying for the next big trend.Red fleshed apples are not new, They've been growing in Asia for millennia  however these are the super tart, being more genetically connected to a crabapple.  The next few years should prove to be interesting , with new breeds like the Sweetango and the Juici. coming to grocery stores in 2017.

There will always be clamor when a new apple drops. With new breeds of the original one, there's going to be more excitement.Nothing beats one with a crunch and super rich flavor.,

The Perfect Sushi Cookbook

Ask people if they want to go out for sushi, the response is an enthusiastic "Yes!". Ask them if they want to come over for homemade and they'll look at you like = well-you;ve grown fins. Yet making your favorite California roll or sashimi is easy to do. There's a new cookbook out there to help you navigate through the various types and techniques.

Sushi chef and Rising Star chef of 2013 Robby Cook and Jeffrey Elliot , author of the book Zwilling Ja Henckels Complete Book of Knife Skills have collaborated to create The Complete Guide To Sushi andSashimi(Robert Rose Publishers 2015). This is the perfect book for sushi lovers who want to make this Japanese standard at home. The book is an extensive guide , giving readers the history of the dish (from the Third Century BCE) to how to sharpen knives.The cookbook has  a picture by picture how to of every assembly and decorating technique needed to create the perfect platter.There are detailed guides to ingredients too. Both Chef Cook and Chef Elliot also include pages on the equipment from the rolling mats to the rice cooker. They also include pictures of the necessary tamago pan which is used to making those large  square omelets used in sushi and the pressed sushi boxes or Oshizushihako. Another plus is the chapter on how to create a photogenic sushi plate for guests.

I like this book because it shows home chefs exactly what fish to use and how to filet them. Many of the pieces are very elaborate with some having as many as nineteen steps.There is a very detailed section on deboning with removing the fish' pin bones or vertebrae. Home chefs will appreciate  the elaborate guide on removing a fillet's skin while. tempura lovers will appreciate the how to prepare shrimp for this tasty dish.Both chefs also include how tos on shucking crabs and oysters. Sushi 't just eel and  tuna wrapped in rice and nori- dried seaweed. There are hand shaped sushi or nigiri, which are small bite sized balls along with scattered style sushi, the perfect dish for neophytes.It's just cubed raw fish scattered over a bowl of sushi (or white rice)There is a vegan version that features shredded omelets along with shiitake  mushroom caps and tofu. for the more advanced  there's the rococo like decorative square roll or shikaimaki. For a fun spin try the shiso ginger stuffed sushi which can be taken on picnics. It's stuffed with ginger and green onion pieces.

Sushi lovers should definitely buy  The Complete Guide To Sushi and Sashimi.it's the perfect guide for recreating those yummy sushi bar morsels. They'll be able to make beloved rolls at home for themselves and for friends.

Season Favorite Chestnuts

Today is All Soul's Day a time to remember the saints and souls we have lost. It's celebrated in the simple  celebration of eating chestnuts. he holy day also opens up to chestnut season. What is great about chestnuts is their nutritional value and versatility.

Chestnuts have been around for millennia, having come from the East and into Europe.  Alexander The Great and the Roman emperors  ordered them to be planted. They were easy trees to grow along the rocky mountainous areas bordering the Mediterranean, and were ground into cereals and flours, often substituting grain. Early Christians used them as the symbol for chastity.it was considered food for the poor for many centuries , however roasted chestnuts were eaten for All Soul's day as well as Saint Martin's  day in Portugal and Saint Stephen's Day in Italy. The nuts are widely popular in Asia . They are a big part of Japan's New Year's Day dinner, because they symbolize mastery and strength..The  British brought them over to India where they reign supreme in the Himalayas. The indigenous American tribes were eating chestnuts for decades, long before the Europeans came over. We almost lost all chestnut tress in 1904 thanks to   chestnut blight, a fungal disease that came from Asian chestnuts. Sicily is the largest importer of them,having exported them to the States for the last sixty years.Sicilian chestnuts are one of the best species. Chestnuts are primarily carbohydrates with some sucroses or sugars. In some areas of Europe, they're call bread fruit because they can be ground into flour for loaves.

What can be done with chestnuts? A lot. One of my favorites is just roasting them over the stove and eating them straight from the shell. This is the best way to enjoy their sweet, almost milky lingering taste.Many Americans make chestnut stuffing to go with their holiday turkeys.It does work in it, giving a usually mushy texture some meaty crunch.      Chestnuts can often open a meal in either soup or salad.A cream of chestnut soup is  the perfect foil for a chill Saturday night.A chestnut madeira soup would be a great way to open a Thanksgiving dinner.Add some quartered roasted ones to any salad to give it some oomph. For a different spin on a Northern Italian classic, try making chestnut gnocchi.  It       does have the dish's traditional potato in it for body along with bread flour.it is served with a burnt butter sauce, rich with garlic and parsley.The nuts can also go into a risotto,too.The   French and the Italians candy them into marron glace which would be perfect over vanilla ice cream, creating a sophisticated take on a sundae.. They can be turned into a chestnut mousse along with being a main ingredient in brownies.

All Soul's Day heralds in the start of the chestnut season. These are versatile nuts that can be cooked in a variety of ways. Try them to experience their meaty texture and sweet nutty taste.