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I started making steamed puddings in my restaurant days. Barbara Hiken brought in a recipe from one of the waitresses for persimmon pudding and we made it that day. And never made another recipe since it was so darn good. I would go to a friend’s house for dinner who worked at the restaurant and lo, […]

Christmas is not considered complete without special occasion baking and Hungarian poppy seed roll is the premier of the genre. Recipes for Hungarian rolls with a poppy seed-raisin filling are known as Mákos es Dios Kalacs (known in village slang as a Beigli).  Every home has it’s own recipe for these rolls and they are a favorite sweet […]

I met my first quail at dinner in the Chez Panisse restaurant back in the 1970s. When the diminutive whole braised game bird was set in front of me, little legs splayed all to heaven in my direction, I commented: “Well, aren’t these indecent little birds!” Quail are a real gourmet treat.  They are easy […]

Some times during editing a book, our favorite recipes get cut by the ol’ editor. We live with the decision for the betterment of the book, but often not happily. One such cut was the grain mixture SooFoo®, a grain mixture we adore. SooFoo® (not related to the Foo Fighters heavy metal rock n’ roll […]

Here’s an easy method for clarifying butter that yields more than the traditional saucepan method does and with less fuss, the method developed by the cooking genius of Alice Medrich. The butter is cut into several chunks and melted it in a narrow glass container in the microwave, without stirring. After it rises once or […]

When asked about a bread that typifies Muslim Northern India and Afghanistan, naan, which is also the generic word for bread in those areas, is the first one that comes to mind. It is also trendy; every Pacific Rim restaurant offers it because of it’s buttery flavor and moist texture. The long oval breads are baked in […]

I used to haunt the now defunct London Tea Room in downtown Palo Alto; it was a great place to meet a friend and chat in a cozy atmosphere of hushed voices and the tinkling of cups hitting their saucers.  They had great sharp cheddar and homemade chutney sandwiches which I washed down cup-by-cup with a […]

Amor polenta (polenta love), while unheard of in America, is one of the best tea cakes in Italian bakeries. Amor Polenta, or as it’s known in its area of origin in northern Lombardy, Dolce Varese, is a simple cake made with a trinity of ‘flours’ that makes it both rustic and delicate at the same time. […]