Be The Adventurer

One of the best resolution a home chef or home baker can make for the New Year is to be more adventurous. It's time to learn new techniques or try new ingedients. It's a fun learning experience that has some tasty rewards.

One of the best experience for any home chef is signing up for any kind of cooking or baking classes. It pays to learn from experts. They can show you how to expertly hold knives or use a sous-vide.They can introduce you to such sophisticated cuisines as French and Vietnamese or how to make a pizza or expertly frost a cake.

Make 2017 the year you try new one ingredients. Experiment. Go to Asian markets to sample exotic spices. Taste a fish, poultry or any type of exotic red meat .Go for emu or bison.Or go healthy. Go vegan.It's not only healthy but also tests your creativity as a cook.

This new year be adventurous.Be brave.Be curious. All this will make you grow as a home chef and baker.

Food Trends For The New Year

We all want 2016 to end.Foodwise, it was an OK year.Cheetohs may have made a comeback , thanks to a certain presidential candidate but that's it.What trends will bloom in the new year?

The New York Times Food section wondered this too in today's issue.Kim Severson, a regular contributor, wrote about trends of past years.1997 brought us the exotic wrap, now a staple of delis and luncheon platters every where.2006 brought us the uboquituous olive bar that is a supermarket must
2002 ushered in bubble teas while we have 2008 to thank for the rebirth of kale.Macaroons and whoopie pies were the it girls of 2011.


Trends used to take two to three months to percolate back in the late Nineties.Social media now can birth a trend and grow it overnight. Every December food wonks and PR firms throw out foods and see if they stick. 2017 is promising to see an interest in such diverse cuisines as French and Filipino. Natural grains such teff and sorghum may be in every baked good from cupcakes to breads. Egg yolks ,long under fire for being bad for you, is now going to be a top ingredient.Not surprisingly, hemp is also going to be hot.

What else will be the most trendiest food this year?It could come from any foodie. It could be hemp crepes or a Filipino egg dish. Any guess is a good one.

Technical Difficulties

The pantry is having technical difficulties tonight.
Hopefully we'll be back tomorrow night!

The Best Christmas Gifts

What does a foodie and home chef  want  for Christmas? Anything that deals with food and the kitchen. Well, I don't know about any of you out there but I got my wish in the form of a madeleine pan and n eight piece glass baking set. It has definitely set the juices flowing again.

As you can see I received the much-coveted madeleine pan. I love madeleines and have been dying to bake them for a long time. Now with a tin and working oven I am definitely going to try my hand at this. These cake-like cookies are a bit labor intensive. but worth it the work, The recipe requires melted butter to be gently folded in along with freshly grated lemon zest. Baked madeleines are then dusted with granulated sugar while still warm. There are recipes for lavender infused ones and chocolate. The first is made with lavender infused honey while the chocolate ones are more like miniature baked cakes.Once I master the original recipe I'd like to move on to the espresso ones with espresso  icing. There is even a  savory madeleine recipe that involves  Parmesan cheese and rosemary or chives. These would be perfect for a brunch or an afternoon snack, along with being a bread for salad Nicoise.

My second gift is an eight piece bake set from Anchor-Hocking. This is exciting too because there's a wide range of dishes and treats I can bake. The larger casserole dish has got me thinking and researching chili bakes, those yummy yummy combos of chili and cornbread. They're kind of like a Southwestern shepherd's pie.but with the extra zing of chili powder. There is a covered  smaller sized dish for smaller bakes , such as bread puddings or strata,I am looking forward to making pies and quiches with homemade crusts too,.I've just found an easy quiche crust recipe that calls for olive oil, flour and cold water. Another recipe I 'd love to tackle is deep dish pizza, layered with mozzarella and veggies.I could also make a childhood favorite, Crazy Crust Pizza using Bisquick. The set also comes with two ramekins for custard or possibly for melting butter or margarine in the microwave. There are all sorts of possibilities with this amazing set and I;'m looking forward to trying out  scores of great recipes.

I've got my Christmas dishes and am chomping at the bit to try them out. I can't wait to tackle the complicated but oh so delcious madeleine recipes and the other baking recipes with my new Anchor Hocking set. It's going to be a fun winter ahead, as I try all sorts of new dishes in my cozy kitchen.

Merry Merry Christmas and Happy Happy Hannukah

To all my readers around the world have a Merry and food filled Christmas and Happy Happy Hannukah!!!

Enjoy these festive and ancient holidays with the best of friends and best of families

Liz

My newest feline foodie , Sunshine aka Sunny,

That Last Minute Frenzy.

The best part of Christmas is the array of dishes and drinks. The worst part is that last minute race to get everything.One of the best moves to alleviate this is to make a list of what's needed. It saves on getting doubles or forgetting a vital ingredient or component of dinner.

Tomorrow is going to be one of the busiest time of year.The roads are going to be clogged. The supermarkets are going to be jammed with home chefs and bakers looking for everything from cloves to colored sugar. It's going to be a mess, What can help anyone is making a list of what's needed. Check to see if you have all the ingredients necessary to create a holiday dinner.Also remember to stock up on the items that you know will go fast. This usually means soda, rolls, olives, and cheese. If you have to go to the store, remember that stores can run out , and the holiday weekend can interfere with deliveries. If that's the case settles for substitutes, like the generic brands. Don't go on a multi store mission.Again the main thoroughfares are not going to be the best, Stay put. Most big supermarkets like Stop and Shop and Acme have enough variety that you can find substitutes.

Another way to deal with that last minute frenzy is think outside the box. Dollar stores can provide you with everything from mints to tablecloths. They're great places to stock up on plastic cups and glasses  along with centerpieces and favors.Any dollar store has salad tongs, meat forks and a whole slew of kitchen tools to facilitate prep time. Also pick up dishwashing soap there too for all that washing up afterwards.If you run out of something during cooking or baking ,don't despair. Do what home chefs and bakers have done for centuries - borrow. If you run out of anything, then rely on friends, family and/or neighbors to supply you with any ingredient.Payback could be a cup of whatever was borrowed. An even better return is a meal in or a plate of cookies.If you can;t borrow - innovate. . Honey can be used for sugar. Nutmeg can be a sub for cinnamon. Create a new dish using what you have in the house.You may surprise yourself  along with family and guests.

Don't be swept away in the last minute holiday frenzy. Do what you can to avoid it It'll make for two days of easy cooking and baking..

Gingerbread House 101

Everyone wants to make a gingerbread house for Christmas. However, it's one of the hardest baked projects to make and even experienced home bakers may balk at baking it. There is one solution - the pre fab kind .That's the one I bought at my local Walgreen's. Was it simple? I 'll let the pictures tell the story

The brand was Walgreen's on brand Savor The Season, costing only a mere $6.99. It looked easy to do, with six pre stamped pieces and an assembly tray.See below.

The house pieces are first put in the four canals or channels. This provides support something a homebaked gingerbread house doesn't have. Icing has to be applied around the pieces edges, acting as a mortar.

This has to be kneaded for two to three minutes to give it a good adhesion to the gingerbread. This is where it gets hairy and the swearing starts. The icing is kind of like a tasteless royal  icing and all that manipulation does nothing.It does come with two kinds of decorating tips, one for outlining the other for creating those snowy mounds dripping off the roof. Except the icing really drips off the roof and onto the assembly tray,It also drips down the windows and doors, giving the house a bizarre Salvador Dali effect. 

See? It only gets worse.

The roof is only slightly better. The decorations are made from Sprees, or Pucker up, peppermint discs, candy beads, and gumdrops. Unfortunately, this went on to the second problem.

The candy proved to be too heavy for the icing and fell off.The box's picture  show cheery red and green decorations, perfectly applied. Yeah, right.They had to be applied a second and third time , thanks to a heavy blob of icing and laying the candy flat against the gingerbread. Luckily it more or less worked out.

It looks cute even though the windowsills are a bit wonky. If I have to make another one, I will decorate first and then assemble.

So how would I rate this?Interesting but frustrating. To any

one getting this kit, decorate the sides and roof first, let the decorations  settle and then glue together, 

All I can say is just get it. It may turn out fairy tale perfect. It may turn out to be a salute to surrealism.