Haste Makes Waste

THIS IS WHAT NOT TO DO. When you’re making chocolate chip cookies and it’s the halfway baking point so you have to rotate the sheet in the oven and there’s parchment paper on top of the cookie sheet, remember that THE PAPER MOVES! …

THIS IS WHAT NOT TO DO.

When you’re making chocolate chip cookies and it’s the halfway baking point so you have to rotate the sheet in the oven and there’s parchment paper on top of the cookie sheet, remember that THE PAPER MOVES! So that when you take the cookie sheet out of the oven you have to BE CAREFUL and not in such a $%^&*(#@ hurry that you grab the cookie sheet too quickly and the paper flies off with the half baked dough on it.

Not only were the cookies ruined because I moved too fast, my oven door cracked and molten chocolate landed on my arm which smelled delicious but now looks sunburned because I was too intent on getting all the chocolate off everywhere and forgot to put my arm under cold water.

Ben Franklin was right. “Haste makes waste.”

This was a new recipe too. Glad I have a small amount of dough left. As soon as the oven is clean I’ll try again.

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Hot and Tangy Coleslaw

My grandma made coleslaw so often she could do it while watching several grandchildren and also Young Doctor Malone. She did it all by hand too. No food processor. Just a big fat knife and an old cutting board. Such was multitasking in the 1950s.

I take the easy way out. The shredding disk is faster than I am and I can also use the slicing disk if I wanted thicker shreds.

Also, grandma always made the same recipe. I don’t. Sometimes I want spicy and sometimes I more vegetables. My kids don’t like mayonnaise as much as I do so sometimes I use a buttermilk dressing or a vinaigrette. In my kitchen there are never-ending variations and it’s all still coleslaw. Good now in the hot weather but we eat it all year.

Hot and Tangy Coleslaw

  • 6 cups shredded cabbage
  • 2 shredded carrots
  • 2 shredded scallions
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1-1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
  • 1 medium jalapeno pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
  • freshly ground black pepper to taste

Toss the cabbage, carrots, and scallions in a large bowl. In another bowl mix the mayonnaise, yogurt, honey, cider vinegar, jalapeno pepper, salt and pepper. Pour over the vegetables and toss to distribute the dressing evenly. Let rest for at least 15 minutes. Toss again and serve. Best at room temperature or slightly chilled, not cold.

Makes 8-10 servings

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My Mother's Rice Pudding

When I see my brother Jeff eating gummy deli rice pudding from a plastic container I wonder whether he grew up in the same house I did.

My mother made the best rice pudding there ever was and for him to stoop so low astounds me. I mean, if you aren’t going to cook her recipe or make some other homemade one, at least have the decency to buy an acceptable one at some restaurant or food shop.

And the worst part is that he enjoys it so much he hums after each spoonful. Honestly, the stuff he gets is as viscous as cement and with practically no rice in it. He sprinkles it with enough cinnamon to coat the top completely. Hey, why not just eat cinnamon if you like it so much? Have a cappuccino with cinnamon. Or make cinnamon toast.

My mother’s rice pudding wasn’t the thick and creamy kind. It’s more of a custard. She baked it so it had a crispy top. A bit different than most, but oh so delish! In honor of National Rice Pudding Day, here’s her recipe.

My Mother’s Rice Pudding

  • 4 cups whole milk
  • 1/4 cup white rice
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs, separated
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • cinnamon to taste

Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges and the liquid is hot. Stir in the rice and salt, turn the heat to lowest and let cook for 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the sugar, egg yolks and vanilla extract with a whisk or hand beater until well blended and thickened. Gradually pour about 1/2 cup of the hot milk-rice mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Return this mixture to the saucepan. Cook over medium heat for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Pour into a bowl and let cool to room temperature (or chill). Beat the egg whites until they stand in stiff peaks. Fold into the thickened milk mixture. Fold in the raisins and cinnamon. Pour into a 1-1/2 quart baking dish. Place this dish into a larger container filled with one-inch of water. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until lightly browned and crispy on top. Makes 6-8 servings

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Soggy Cheesecake Crust

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Hi Leslie - sorry that your cheesecake crust comes out soggy. It may be that water leaks into the seams of the springform pan. You can line the bottom with tin foil (overhang it), then attach the side, then take the overhanging part and crumple it to try to seal all the edges. That may help.

On the other hand — it may be the recipe. It’s important to bake the crust for at least 10 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. Then let it cool. Then fill it.

Another trick you can try — add some ground nuts to the crumbs. Nuts always crisp up nicely and stay crispy better than crumbs do.

Another tip: bake the crust for 10 minutes, brush it with an egg wash (beat an egg with a small amount of water) and bake for another 3-4 minutes.

And another: let the crust cool, then layer on a thin layer of melted chocolate, jam, lemon curd or the like. This adds a flavor dimension of course, but it also helps keep the crust crispy.

After sitting in the fridge, even after all that, eventually cheesecake crust will become soggy just from the moisture in the cheese. But the tips above will help get you a better crust at least at the beginning.

Cheese sauce that breaks

I use a variety of cheeses when I make macaroni and cheese and, although  it tastes good, every time it comes out of the oven, the cheese sauce has broken.  I once read that using condensed milk would address this problem.  Do you know if that works?  Also, why does my sauce break?

submitted by Grandma Bubby

Hello Grandma Bubby! Sorry about your Mac and Cheese. If your grandchildren are like mine, they love this dish and they can be very particular about it.

Here are some tips for you, to help keep your Mac and Cheese sauce from separating:

1: evaporated milk and UNSWEETENED condensed milk (most of the condensed milk we see in the supermarket is sweetened) have stabilizers added, so it helps keep the sauce ingredients together.

2: same goes for American cheese; adding a bit of American cheese to the mix can stabilize the sauce too.

3: or use whole milk (rather than skim) because fat serves as a stabilizer.

4: use young cheeses such as asiago, non-aged cheddar, havarti, muenster, non-aged gouda, and so on. These have more water content than aged, older, drier cheeses and melt more easily, keeping the mixture stable.

5: shred or grate the cheese so that it melts more easily when you add it to the hot white sauce. Only add a little at a time and mix it in thoroughly before adding more. If you add cheese all at once there’s more of a tendency for the sauce to separate.

6: it’s good to use more than cheddar, as you do, because cheddar alone can be grainy.

I hope this helps. Let me know!

Packaged Bread

It’s happened. Packaged wheat bread passed packaged white bread in total dollar sales (year to year July 2009-2010), according to Nielson Co. It seems a lot of people are looking for healthier foods, and the focus on heart health, whole grains, fiber intake and better carbs has made effective inroads even into the old fashioned packaged sliced bread market.

Which is all fine. Tuna salad or sliced turkey on multi-grain has more flavor, and is more pleasantly chewy than the same sandwich made with soft white bread. For children who won’t eat meat, peanut butter on whole wheat is more nutritious than on white bread. And there are so many varieties of whole-wheat and multi-grain breads, it makes for more interesting sandwich combinations than there ever were.

But I grew up on Wonder Bread, the package with the red, yellow and blue balloons, the one that helped build strong bodies 8 ways, and then, just a few years later, miracle of miracles, helped build strong bodies in 12 ways.

Everyone I’ve ever met who knew the wonders of Wonder Bread knows that, nutrition aside, there was no better slice for certain kinds of sandwiches. My favorite, from the good old — or were they bad? — days, was the fried salami sandwich. My mother bought Hebrew National salami, sliced it really thin and fried the pieces to a crisp. She slathered the Wonder bread with French’s yellow mustard, tucked the salami slices in between and that was that.

The meat was leathery and hot, the bread luxuriously soft, the culinary equivalent of a baby’s “blankie.” When I picked the sandwich up and took the first bite, the heat — plus any of the meat’s remaining juices — plus the pressure from my fingers, made it all into a slippery mess. Yellow blotches splotched my hands, which probably reeked of meaty-garlic.

But, boy were those good!

And so too the Grilled Cheese, yes, so much better for you on whole wheat, but when made with Wonder bread, a true —- well, wonder. Soft, slithery in my throat. The better to gobble milk by.

I used to love tomato sandwiches on Wonder Bread too, but I have to say, after I tried hearty, bakery white put together with summer tomatoes and a dab of mayonnaise, I realized Wonder Bread’s limitations even for some of my favorites.

It’s good that Americans are waking up to the value of whole grains and seeking out more nutritious sliced bread. I do. My children do.

But I can say, if I ever decide to make myself a fried salami sandwich, it will be on Wonder white, complete with French’s yellow mustard.

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